Post Office campaigner Sir Alan Bates has written to the Prime Minister demanding a deadline of March 20225 for subpostmasters’ compensation claims over the Horizon scandal to be settled.
Sir Alan, who was honoured for his work to seek redress for sub-postmasters who suffered from the faulty IT software said he and hundreds of other ex-Post Office workers haven’t been told when they will receive payouts over what has been branded the biggest miscarriage of justice in British history.
He said he wrote to Sir Keir Starmer on 2 October urging him to ensure the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) completes all compensation claims in the Group Litigation Order (GLO) scheme – one of four set up – by March, 2025.
If workers don’t receive financial redress by then an independent body should be appointed to handle claims instead of the Government, Sir Alan believes.
The Government said it refuses to set a deadline for claimants to receive compensation claims by as it wants everyone entitled to redress to receive it.
“Like many of the groups, my claim has not been completed. It’s ridiculous. I am one of just many in this position,” Sir Alan told i.
“This is why I wrote to the Prime Minister at the start of October, asking that he instruct the department to ensure that all claims – and I’m talking about in the GLO group, the original 555 – have been completed by March next year.
“I’m led to believe that there’s no reason why it can’t be done if that instruction was given.
“But I’ve had no response from the Prime Minister yet to my letter. It might turn up on Monday.”
If the DBT could not meet that deadline, an external person or company should be brought in to finish the job, he has told the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA) group.
The JFSA could also seek to take further legal action if a March 2025 deadline was not guaranteed, Sir Alan told the group in a circular, with his decades-long battle for justice earning him a knighthood this year.
Sir Alan led a group of 555 workers in a landmark court case against the Post Office.
The plight of the sub-postmasters and mistresses who were wrongfully convicted was brought to a wider audience by the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office after the story was exposed by Computer Weekly.
In May, a new law was passed to overturn the wrongful convictions of more than 900 people linked to the faulty Horizon IT programme.
Sir Alan, who leads the JFSA, has campaigned for financial redress for the 555 victims of the scandal who launched legal actions against the Post Office.
The latest Government figures show 201 have had their claims paid out since the scheme was set up in 2022.
“March will be three years after the scheme was first launched,” Sir Alan said. “You’d have thought three years was enough time to do all this.”
Those who are eligible have been offered a £75,000 fixed payment, but the Government believes around two thirds will reject that and seek more to cover the value of their claim.
Seema Mistra, who was jailed while pregnant after being wrongly convicted of stealing £70,000 from her Post Office branch in Surrey, said the delay in receiving compensation was “a mental torture”.
She said: “It’s a terrible thing. Through no fault of mine they put me in prison, and we still have to ask for our own money back.
“It is shameful. It’s just making me more and more angry. It has to be now.”
It comes as it was reported ministers are exploring plans to hand ownership of the Post Office to thousands of sub-postmasters and mistresses.
According to Sky News, the DBT has asked management consultancy BCG to examine options for mutualising the Post Office.
Reported Government plans to look at handing ownership of the institution to sub-postmasters would be “a mistake,” Sir Alan said and he instead called for a major corporation like Amazon to buy it instead.
A report due to be handed to Jonathan Reynolds, the Business Secretary, in the coming months is expected to assess whether the Post Office can be turned into into an employee-owned mutual.
Such a move would see the organisation run like John Lewis, which is owned by its 74,000 staff members.
But Sir Alan believes the Government would have to underwrite the cost of the measure, with huge investment needed to modernise the Post Office’s “outdated business model”.
“It needs so much modernisation. Who is going to pay for it? Where’s that money coming from?” he said.
And the chances are Governments are going to have to underwrite it, or guarantee it. The burden could continue to be on the taxpayer for many a year to come.”
A “major corporation like Amazon” was required to inject funding into the Post Office, he added.
“I think Government should be looking at expressions of interest from major businesses,” he added.
“The current business model is so outdated, it’s beyond belief.”
A Government spokesperson said: “Sir Alan and fellow campaigners have worked tirelessly to get justice for the thousands of innocent postmasters affected by this scandal and we understand their frustration after years of inaction. This Government is fully committed to providing full and fair redress.
“As of the end of September, compensation has been offered to almost 270 people – nearly 80 per cent of them have accepted, more are still considering, and we are making initial offers to 90 per cent of claims within 40 working days.
“We want to see everyone who is entitled to compensation receive it, and that is why we will not set a deadline for when we need to receive claims by.”
