Thank you for contacting me about the Post Office Horizon Scandal.
Like many of my
Parliamentary colleagues across the House, I am appalled by the treatment of
the sub-postmasters who were accused of theft based on flawed evidence from the
Horizon IT system. Victims' accounts of the impact of these prosecutions are
harrowing: some served prison sentences; many had their livelihoods and life
savings decimated; marriages broke down; four committed suicide; others passed
away before being able to clear their names; and many were ostracised by their
local communities and as a result failed to find alternative work.
While we cannot undo the
damage that has been done, we must establish what went wrong. I am aware that
nobody at either the Post Office or Fujitsu has been held directly accountable.
However, in light of the rulings, the Government converted a public inquiry
into the affair to a statutory footing which allows its Chair, Sir Wyn
Williams, the necessary powers and time to conduct an in-depth analysis of the
decision-making processes that led to the scandal. I understand that Sir Wyn
has publish his interim report, and my ministerial colleagues will provide a
formal response shortly. You can read Sir Wyn’s interim report here: https://www.postofficehorizoninquiry.org.uk/interim-report-compensation-17-july-2023
The Post Office (Horizon
System) Compensation Bill will ensure that the trailblazers who exposed the
scandal do not miss out on compensation because of an arbitrary deadline. The
Government is determined to make compensation claims as soon as possible, and
by the current deadline of August 2024. However, time needs to be taken to
assess more complex claims, so postmasters receive full and fair compensation
and are not unduly rushed into making a decision on their claims.
To date, more than £148
million has been paid to 2,700 victims across all compensation schemes, 93
convictions have been overturned and, of those, 30 have agreed full and final
settlements. Just over £30 million has been paid out in compensation to those
with overturned convictions, including interim payments.
Of the original 555
courageous postmasters who took the Post Office to court and who first brought
the Horizon scandal into the public eye, £27 million has been paid out to 477
claimants in addition to the net £11 million received through the December 2019
settlement. Forty-seven members of the original Group Litigation Order (GLO)
group have also received compensation following the overturning of their
convictions, totalling more than £17 million. The Government has received full
claim forms from 59 of those postmasters who are eligible for the GLO scheme
and issued 43 offers. There have been 21 full and final settlements paid and a
further seven full and final settlements accepted. That brings the total number
of accepted full and final GLO settlements to 28.
It is worth noting that
the 2,417 postmasters who claimed through the original Horizon shortfall scheme
have all received offers of compensation. Around 85 per cent have accepted
those offers, worth over £107 million. In total, over £91 million has been paid
out through the scheme, with the Post Office now dealing with late applications
and with cases where initial offers were not accepted.
The harm that these prosecutions have wreaked on the affected families over the past 20 years is irreparable. Lessons should and will be learnt to ensure that an injustice of this magnitude never happens again.
On January 10th,
2024, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade
announced that the government have set a target of issuing initial offers for
90% of group litigation order cases within 40 days of receiving a completed
application. This followed an announcement from November 2023 that the
government would be introducing a £600,000
up-front offer for claims with overturned convictions, which people could
choose to take rather than going through the detailed assessment process. This
has already made a real difference and with the help of minimum payments has
enabled the government to increase the number of finalised cases from 5 to 30.
The
government are now taking additional steps and will increase the available
payment to an upfront offer of £75,000, which will save recipients from having
to go through the assessment process. However, as with overturned convictions,
if they believe they are entitled to more, they are welcome to continue with
the full assessment. Not only will this allow the Department to focus its
resources on the larger cases, but it will allow claimants’ lawyers to do the
same. The pace at which claims can be entered into the scheme is the key
constraint to how quickly they can be settled. The up-front offer is smaller
for the GLO scheme than for the overturned convictions because the claims tend
to be smaller, and it is estimated that perhaps a third of GLO claimants may
want to consider this route.
Regarding
the number of convictions, the government looking to bring forward legislation
to overturn convictions of all those convicted in England and Wales based on
Post Office evidence given during the Horizon scandal.
Hundreds of convictions
remain extant. Some of those convictions will have relied on evidence from the
discredited Horizon system; others will have been the result of appalling
failures of the Post Office’s investigation and prosecution functions. The
evidence already emerging from Sir Wyn Williams’s inquiry has shown not only
incompetence, but malevolence in many of their actions. This evidence was not
available to the courts when they made their decisions on individual cases. So
far, 95 out of more than 900 convictions have been overturned. We know that
postmasters have been reluctant to apply to have their convictions overturned—many
of them have decided that they have been through enough and cannot face further
engagement with authority. Many fear having their hopes raised, only for them
to be dashed yet again.
The
Government are considering whether to include the small number of cases that
have already been considered by the appeals courts and their convictions
upheld. The Government recognises that this is an exceptional step, however
these are exceptional circumstances. Previously, people with convictions that
have been overturned are offered a choice between having their compensation
individually assessed or settling on an up-front offer of £600,000. As far as
possible, we want to avoid guilty people walking away with hundreds of
thousands of pounds of public money, but we cannot make the provision of
compensation subject to a detailed examination of guilt. We have concluded that
to ask the court to do that again would be unfair to individuals.
We cannot
turn this into an administrative exercise. All we ask is that as part of their
claims for compensation, postmasters sign a statement to the effect that they
did not commit the crimes of which they are accused. Anyone subsequently found
to have signed such a statement untruthfully will be putting themselves at risk
of prosecution for fraud. It may not be fool proof, but this is a proportionate
step that respects the ordeal that these people have already suffered. It means
that an honest postmaster will have his or her conviction overturned and, just
by signing one document, can secure compensation.
I have received assurances
that the Government wants to see all victims affected by the Post Office
Horizon IT scandal compensated fairly and swiftly. We will continue to work
across Government and with the Post Office to ensure the postmasters get the
full compensation they deserve, and that payments and associated taxes are fair
and proportionate. The Government's compensation scheme for GLO case
postmasters has opened and details, including information on how to apply, can
be found online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/compensation-scheme-for-group-litigation-order-case-postmasters.
As you may be aware, Paula
Vennells has confirmed she will hand back her CBE. I believe that this is the
right decision. The Government's focus continues to be on ensuring all those
whose lives were torn apart have swifter access to compensation and justice.
The Government has been
clear that it should not be the taxpayer alone who funds these compensation
schemes. The inquiry is committed to concluding by the end of this year and
reporting shortly after. At that point, Ministers will know who was responsible
for what, and they should then be able to identify who can be made responsible
through potential financial contributions, rather than the taxpayer alone.
Once again, thank you for
taking the time to write to me about the Post office Horizon scandal.
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