Post office workers who exposed Horizon scandal finally get their payout
The government have said that the post office workers who won a landmark civil case following the Horizon computer scandal will finally be compensated for the miscarriage of justice against them.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Paul Scully MP said that the compensation paid to the 555 victims would be “absolutely parallel” to the other Post Office workers who had been compensated through the historic shortfall scheme set up by the government.
“I want to make sure they get that full compensation,” he said. “It is a massive scandal and it’s something I am absolutely determined to put right.”
He said he would also look into whether families of postmasters who have since died would be also be compensated in the same way.
It comes after more than 700 branch managers were given criminal convictions between 2000 and 2014 when a faulty accounting software called Horizon made it look as if money was missing.
Hundreds of sub-postmasters from the original group took the Post Office to the High Court in 2019, where they proved that the accounting errors were at fault.
The settlement agreement signed at the time said the group would not seek further compensation or legal action.
However, ministers and the Post Office have recently come out to state that victims should have “full, fair and final compensation”.
According to Reuters, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also said: “Whilst it cannot take away the years of distress, the postmasters who have suffered terribly over the Post Office Horizon scandal deserve to be fairly compensated,” said
“That’s why we’ll be introducing a new compensation scheme for those who led and won the landmark legal case over the failings, so they can receive their fair share.”