Fury as postmasters’ compensation scheme falls short
POSTMASTERS whose reputations were left in tatters by the Horizon IT scandal are being offered a maximum of just £10,000 for “severe” reputational damage, it has emerged.
A scheme designed to recompensate the postmasters who exposed the Post Office Horizon Scandal from the 1990s opened this week.
The Department for Business and Trade said it is designed to ensure affected individuals receive “full and fair compensation”. Postmasters won £43million plus legal costs at the High Court in 2019 but individuals that went to court were ineligible for the compensation scheme set up for others affected by the Horizon saga.
The Post Office implemented a new accounting system in branches in the 90s and an IT error led to shortfalls in branch accounts. Postmasters were forced to cover the shortfall and some individuals were wrongly prosecuted.
One aspect of the scheme is for stigma suffered as a result of the accusations and, in some cases, convictions.
Other areas where people can claim are harassment, injury, distress and inconvenience and malicious prosecution.
However, claimants who went to court will have their own scheme and Dan Neidle, founder of Tax Policy Associates Ltd, has called the new scheme “an insult” and “abhorrent”.
Postmasters who claim for severe stigma or reputational damage as a result of the faulty Horizon software are eligible for a maximum of £10,000.
Criteria for a severe claim includes: adverse media reports; loss of community positions; being the subject of verbal abuse; feeling of being forced to move out of a local area; being subject of gossip, which took years to be forgotten; being unable to explain the position as a result of Post Office’s reliance on confidentiality duties.
Mr Neidle said: “The Post Office falsely accused thousands of theft. But the level of compensation now being offered is an insult.”
People claiming for malicious prosecution, where they were sent to jail but not convicted or given a caution, will receive a maximum of £5,000.
Postmasters wishing to be compensated for harassment can apply for a maximum of £30,000, the document shows. “So the Post Office is benefiting from its own destruction of evidence. That’s abhorrent,” Mr Neidle added.
Christopher Head, an ex-postmaster from West Boldon, said: “The cap of £10k in this scheme is outrageous.”
A Government spokesperson said: “The compensation scheme has been designed so that a lack of supporting evidence will not be a barrier to entry, and will put postmasters back into the position they would have been in had it not been for Horizon.”