In a rare intervention the cross-party Business and Trade Committee has called on ministers to ‘reflect and advise’ on its response to the Horizon scandal and take steps to speed up payments
Keir Starmer has been dealt a blow over the Government’s response to the Horizon scandal – with MPs demanding more action for wronged postmasters.
In an unusual intervention the cross-party Business and Trade Committee today calls on ministers to “reflect and advise” on their response – with over 4,000 victims still waiting for a settlement.
Labour MP Liam Byrne, who heads the committee, warns many feel like they face a “second trial” as they try to clear their names and get compensation. And a scathing document published today says an “unacceptable” delay means there is a growing number of postmasters dying before they get justice.
The committee made 17 recommendations aimed to speed up payments, but the Government accepted just three. At the end of February £768million had been paid out – with more than half of that sum awarded in the last six months.
Mr Byrne said that although Labour has made “extremely important progress”, too many are waiting too long, with victims dying without being compensated for their ordeal.
He said: “That is wrong. People who were, over years and years, disbelieved, bankrupt, criminalised, sent to prison, had their lives completely upended for wrongs that they did not commit, have experienced something akin to a second trial as they sought to clear their names and receive redress.
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“The Government’s response to our recommendations is a start. But we respectfully ask ministers to listen harder to what the Committee has recommended, reflect again on what we proposed and re-submit its response to the Committee.”
He said he hoped for a “clearer signal” for all those affected that justice will be served. More than 700 Post Office branch managers around the UK were prosecuted between 1999 and 2015, after the faulty Horizon accounting software made it look as though money was missing from their branches. Others lost their livelihoods and their savings as a result of the dodgy IT system.
Earlier this month The Mirror revealed that former Post Office worker Terry Walters was finally offered compensation a week after his death. And the proposed payment was less than half the 74-year-old’s original claim. Terry and his wife Janet, from Stockport, lost their home as a result of the scandal.
Janet described the offer as an “utter disgrace”. The committee had recommended changes to the compensation scheme to give greater benefit of the doubt to claimants.
It also said it was a “mistake” not to transfer administration of the Horizon Shortfall Scheme to the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). And ministers also rejected a call for claimaints to have upfront legal advice, as well as procedural changes to speed up settlements.
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