The government was concerned that victims of the Post Office scandal who had not yet applied for compensation may feel harassed if they were pursued by officials to do so, as revealed by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of MPs. The PAC, which has examined the payments, found that many of the wrongly accused or convicted sub-postmasters had not yet received fair and timely compensation. In its report, the PAC stated that the government had not taken enough action to ensure that those entitled to compensation had applied for it. The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) stated that it had already paid out over £1 billion in compensation. However, the committee uncovered that the government had no plans to follow up with eligible individuals for compensation, as only one in five letters sent to sub-postmasters received a response. This raised concerns among MPs about potential delays in settlements if unanswered letters were not followed up on. Chris Head, a former Post Office owner who was wrongly accused and made an OBE for his services to justice, stated that the current compensation processes were not effective. He also highlighted that some victims, such as Sir Alan Bates, had only received a fraction of their claim, while others on the Overturned Convictions Scheme had not been fully compensated. The DBT claimed that it was worried about potentially harassing individuals with repeated letters asking for the same thing. However, it did agree to consult the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board on the suggestion of sending follow-up letters to those eligible for the Horizon Shortfall Scheme but had not yet applied for compensation. There are four main schemes for sub-postmasters to apply for compensation, with eligibility determined by the specifics of each case. Between 1999 and 2015, over 900 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted due to issues with the Horizon IT system, resulting in some going to prison and many others suffering financial ruin and losing their livelihoods. The scandal has been described as the largest miscarriage of justice in British legal history, but many victims are still waiting for financial redress despite government promises to expedite payouts. The DBT stated that the PAC report was based on a period before the last election, but the committee clarified that it also reflected the current government’s actions. The report included evidence from April of this year and contained figures as recent as May. The committee noted that, as of March, the Post Office had sent letters to 18,500 individuals about the Horizon Shortfall Scheme, but the majority had not responded. The Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme, which offers eligible individuals a choice between a £600,000 flat-rate settlement or a full claim assessment, had received 536 applications by May, with 339 choosing the flat payout. The report stated that the government had not yet received any full claim assessment applications for this scheme. In regards to the Overturned Convictions Scheme, 25 out of 111 eligible individuals had not yet submitted a claim, while 86 had submitted full and final claims, with 69 being paid. The PAC report stated that the government had no plans to follow up with potential claimants who had not yet applied for any of the schemes. It also noted that the government did not have a clear understanding of the expected value of claims through the Horizon Shortfall Scheme and Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme. The latest figures showed that over £1 billion had been awarded to just over 7,300 sub-postmasters across all the redress schemes. Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, chair of the committee, expressed dissatisfaction with the slow progress of the compensation schemes and the lack of government plans to reach out to potential claimants who may not be aware of their rights. He also stated that it was unacceptable for victims to have to relitigate their cases, especially after some had already gone through the courts to clear their names. The committee made several recommendations to the government, emphasizing the need to ensure that every postmaster is fully informed about their options for claiming compensation. The DBT stated that it would consider these recommendations and work with the Post Office, which had already sent letters to over 24,000 postmasters, to ensure that all eligible individuals have the opportunity to apply for compensation. The PAC also reported on the government’s efforts to recover fraud losses from the Bounce Back Loan Scheme, which was introduced to help businesses recover from Covid-related losses. It found that these efforts had been largely unsuccessful, with an estimated £1.9 billion lost to fraud and only £130 million in payouts from lenders recovered. The report criticized the government for being too passive in placing the responsibility on lenders to recover losses, as they were fully underwritten by the government, leaving no commercial incentive to assist with the recovery of taxpayers’ money.
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