500 hit by Post Office scandal to get £40,000

MORE than 500 subpostmasters wrongly accused or suspected of stealing money by the Post Office will get an interim compensation payment of around £40,000 each.

They were among the many victims of the Horizon Computer scandal, in which faulty software made it look like money had gone missing from their branches.

But despite winning £58million in 2019, most of the funds were swallowed up by a “no win, no fee” agreement.

Many of the 500 were left with no financial resources and were excluded from other compensation schemes.

Level

Postal Affairs Minister Paul Scully said in March that the group would be put on a level pegging with other victims. And yesterday he told the Commons interim payments totalling £19.5million will be paid within weeks until a final agreement is reached.

The Government has also brought in the victims’ solicitors to try to speed up the process of getting those full payments.

Tory MP Duncan Baker urged Mr Scully to also look at the “remuneration structure” for existing postmasters to stop Post Offices vanishing from UK high streets.

The minister said talks were continuing to find a “viable approach for the post offices, not just for economic value, but for social value as well”.