08 January 2024 , 09:57
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An astonishing number of victims are still waiting to receive justice in the Post Office scandal despite the Government's promise of compensation, and the question of accountability looms large.
Viewers of ITV's new drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office have been left enraged at the injustice and horrific personal devastation caused by the wrongful prosecution for theft of hundreds of sub-postmasters by the Post Office.
The series follows the true story of the scandal surrounding the Post Office's installation of a new computer system, Horizon, developed by Japanese company Fujitsu, which turned out to be faulty and recorded false accounting figures. Between 2000 and 2015, hundreds of sub-postmasters, including Alan Bates, were prosecuted and for many the human cost was devastating.
Paula Vennells was CEO of The Post Office from 2012 to 2019 (PA)Out of a total of 736 employees, over 230 were jailed, including a pregnant woman, four committed suicide, 33 died, others were declared bankrupt while many saw their personal lives fall apart as they endured public humiliation.
Mr Bates, a former sub-postmaster from Wales who is played by Toby Jones in the TV drama, has spent two decades trying to clear the names of those who were wrongly given criminal convictions for reporting less income than Horizon said they should have.
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In 2019, Alan and five other employees took the Post Office to the High Court on behalf of 555 claimants where a judge ruled the IT was at fault in what has now been named the UK’s worst miscarriage of justice.
In September 2023, the Government announced that every postmaster wrongfully convicted in the Post Office Horizon scandal would be offered £600,000 in compensation to settle their claim. To date just 93 convictions have been overturned and Mr Bates wants the process to be fast tracked up before it's too late for some.
"Get moving with the compensation," Mr Bates told The Mirror. "Don't extend the deadline for payments because you can't extend people's lives. They haven't even received offers yet. It's madness."
He says some have been suffering for over 20 years because claims are delayed in the legal process. "It's held up in the system and I know the government says it's the lawyers who are holding it up, but it's not the claimants' lawyers, it's government lawyers. It's money they are owed," he said.
The Post Office, which has a number of different compensation schemes, says it is continuing to make payments: "We're doing all we can to right the wrongs of the past, as far as that is possible, and to date offers of compensation totalling more than £138million have been made to around 2,700 postmasters, the vast majority of which have been agreed and paid. Interim payments continue to be made in other cases which have not yet been resolved."
The Department for Business and Trade added: "We have made funding available to ensure all victims of the scandal can deservedly receive compensation.
"All those who have their Horizon convictions overturned are offered £600,000 in compensation."
So far no Post Office or Fujitsu executives have been punished or held accountable for the faulty system.
Paula Vennells, who was CEO of the Post Office from 2012 to 2019, insisted the Horizon system was "robust" during her leadership. She left her position just before the High Court judgement and walked away with more than £400,000 in pay and bonuses.
In 2019 she was awarded a CBE for her services to the Post Office and there are calls for her to be stripped of the honour due to her role in the scandal. Vennells, played by Lia Williams in the ITV series, apologised to her colleagues and their families after the court ruling and has since said she will "work with the government inquiry to ensure that staff and the public get the answers they deserve".
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Last year Alan Bates turned down an OBE because of the victims still suffering and because Vennells still retains her CBE.
* Mr Bates vs The Post Office continues tonight at 9pm on ITV.
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