Bill to quash Horizon scandal convictions ‘must have timetable’
A LAW aimed at quashing the wrongful convictions of subpostmasters caught up in the Horizon IT scandal should include a legally binding timeframe for redress offers, the chairman of the Business and Trade committee has said.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill “marks an important step forward in finally clearing” the names of hundreds of wronged branch managers who have had their lives “callously torn apart”.
Committee chairman and Labour MP Liam Byrne described it as a “problem” that a legally binding timeframe had not been implemented for offers to be tabled to subpostmasters once they have submitted their claims.
Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake told the Commons that fair financial redress would be provided to wronged subpostmasters “as promptly as we can”.
The Malton MP said it was not in the gift of ministers to ensure all Post Office compensation is paid by the end of the year, but insisted the Government “absolutely” wanted that to happen.
The legislation will exonerate those convicted in England and Wales on the basis of the faulty Horizon accounting software in what has been branded the biggest miscarriage of justice in British legal history.
Those with overturned convictions will receive an interim payment with the option of immediately taking a fixed and final offer of £600,000, according to No 10.
Lead campaigner Jo Hamilton, who was one of the first to have her conviction overturned in 2021, described the legislation as a “distraction”, criticising the Government’s “constant broken deadlines”.
She criticised the Government for not providing members of the initial 555 subpostmasters, led by Alan Bates and known as the Group Litigation Order (GLO) group, financial redress in a “timely manner”.
Mr Byrne said: “The proposed new law is an important step forward but it’s not job done.
“The Post Office is still left in charge of processing too many claims, when’s it patently not fit for purpose.”
The Government said it will bring forward “enhanced” financial redress for subpostmasters who, while not convicted or part of legal action against the Post Office, made good the apparent losses caused by the Horizon system from their own pockets.