- Wednesday, November 06, 2024
The former sub-postmaster expressed frustration over the slow pace of compensation.
By: Pramod Thomas
THE leading campaigner for Post Office scandal victims has warned that he may return to court if compensation payments continue to drag on, reported The Financial Times.
Speaking to MPs on Tuesday (5), Sir Alan Bates, founder of Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance, insisted that victims need a clear deadline for receiving their money, suggesting March 2025 as a cut-off date.
The former sub-postmaster, who was recently knighted for his fight for justice, expressed frustration over the slow pace of compensation.
The campaigner, who has twice rejected compensation offers this year as “derisory”, said his group would consider their options, including legal action, in upcoming meetings.
“I would never say never,” he told MPs about the possibility of crowdfunding another court case, though he acknowledged this could delay the current scheme by up to two years.
More than 70 victims have died waiting for justice, Bates added, with others now in their 80s still suffering.
Despite the government setting aside £1.8 billion for victims, only £440 million has reached about 3,000 claimants so far through various compensation schemes.
“The bureaucracy is definitely a big problem,” Bates told the House of Commons business committee. “People have been waiting far too long.”
He revealed that his recent letters to prime minister Keir Starmer requesting help with setting a deadline initially went unanswered, though Downing Street later confirmed Starmer had responded.
Starmer’s spokesperson said that there would not be a deadline imposed, arguing it could prevent some victims from claiming.
“What we don’t want to do is set an arbitrary cut-off date which could result in some claimants missing the deadline,” the spokesperson said. “We obviously don’t want to put pressure on claimants and put them off contesting their claim.”
The spokesperson added that as of 31 October, approximately £438m had been paid to more than 3,100 claimants across the four compensation schemes.
The scandal, Britain’s largest miscarriage of justice in recent history, saw more than 900 Post Office branch managers wrongly convicted between 1999 and 2015. They were accused of theft and false accounting based on faulty evidence from Fujitsu’s Horizon computer system.
Many others, while not convicted, lost their savings trying to cover supposed shortfalls.
Jill Donnison, who worked at her late mother’s branch, said it took two months to complete the paperwork, calling some questions “impossible to answer”.
Lawyers told MPs that claimants face complicated questionnaires and must provide evidence from decades ago, which in many cases was seized by the Post Office and never returned.
Bates led a landmark court victory in 2019 that proved the accounting shortfalls were caused by faulty data. Earlier this year, his story gained national attention through a television drama, leading to new legislation to overturn convictions.
“They shouldn’t have to put up with this,” he said, stressing the urgent need for resolution in a scandal that has stretched over two decades.
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