Post Office: Horizon scandal victims offered £600,000 compensation

Post Office workers who have had wrongful convictions for theft and false accounting overturned are to be offered £600,000 each in compensation, the government has said.

More than 700 branch managers were given criminal convictions when faulty accounting software made it look like money was missing from their sites.

So far, 86 convictions have been overturned.

The Post Office minister said the sum was being offered "no ifs or buts".

The compensation is for postmasters whose convictions relied on the now discredited Horizon IT system, in return for them settling their claims.

Postmasters who have already received initial compensation payments, or have reached a settlement with the Post Office of less than £600,000, will be paid the difference.

The government said the offer aimed to "bring a resolution to the scandal".

Postmasters will continue to receive funds to cover legal fees. Anyone who does not want to accept the offer can continue with the existing process.

Others are still waiting to have their convictions overturned. Those who successfully do so in future, based on Horizon evidence, will also be entitled to the compensation.

Kevin Hollinrake, the Post Office Minister appointed last autumn, told the BBC: "If you've suffered a conviction, and you've had that conviction overturned, £600,000 is there waiting for you.

"We're doing this because people have suffered horrendous situations of course, financial loss as well as personal damage to reputation, and many other things have happened to people. So we want to get this compensation out the door."

He said the government had "erred on the side of generosity", but admitted that for some people it would not be enough.

"If you've suffered, if you've spent time in jail, if you lost your house, if your marriage has failed, all those things - if those things have happened to you, no amount of money will ever be enough," he said.

He added: "If you think your claim is worth more than £600,000, you can still go through the normal routes."

Some £21m has been paid in compensation so far to postmasters with overturned convictions.

It is one of three different compensation schemes that have been set up as the scandal developed.

The Post Office Horizon scandal has been described as "the most widespread miscarriage of justice in UK history".

Between 2000 and 2014, the Post Office prosecuted 736 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses - an average of one a week - based on information from a recently installed computer system called Horizon.

Some went to prison following convictions for false accounting and theft. Many were financially ruined and have described being shunned by their communities. Some have since died.

The Horizon inquiry is investigating the scandal and is likely to conclude in 2024.

Last month, Nick Read, the boss of the Post Office, agreed to return all of his bonus payment for his participation in the inquiry - a total amount of £54,400.