Post Office scandal: Government to foot bill for postmasters' compensation

The government has agreed to foot the bill for the compensation of former Post Office workers who were falsely convicted of theft in the long-running Horizon saga.

The Post Office has said they are unable to cover the payments for the exonerated individuals.

As the Post Office's only shareholder, the government has now agreed to pay, as first reported by Sky News.

Details are set to be announced in Parliament as early as Tuesday.

After that, discussions about final settlement figures can begin with the individuals involved.

The Department for Business said that the impact on postmasters' lives and livelihoods "cannot be overstated".

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.

But it was the software at fault, containing "bugs, errors and defects" according to the High Court judgement which quashed many of the convictions.

Some died before campaigners won the legal battle to have their cases reconsidered.

The government's bill keeps growing as more elements of this scandal emerge. Despite having spent millions on their own legal costs pursuing sub-postmasters through the courts, the Post Office has essentially said it can't afford to pay for any of the clear-up. As the sole shareholder, it's up to the government to settle up.

They had already agreed to pay the costs of the scheme that refunds the money that branch managers put in to cover the holes that the IT was incorrectly showing. That bill will run into the millions and cash advances are now being paid to some of those people.

Now the government has agreed to fund whatever financial settlements are reached with those who were wrongly convicted in court.

Money can never cover the loss of livelihoods, family relationships and the loss of freedom for some of those convicted, but it's likely some will see settlements worth multimillions.

After decades of overlooking reports of problems at the Post Office, the government is now having to use the deep-pockets of the taxpayer to make amends.

A spokesperson from the Department for Business said that the government was "committed to seeing these longstanding Horizon issues resolved" and that it would provide financial support as well as interim compensation payments for those workers with overturned convictions.

"We are also learning what went wrong through the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry, and ensuring something like this cannot happen again," they added.

The Post Office declined to comment when asked by BBC News.

But in a speech in April, its chief executive Nick Read admitted that: "We have to accept that it is the Post Office that caused what for some has been very deep pain.

"Absent the possibility of turning the clock back, compensation appropriate to that pain must follow."

He also urged the government to ensure funding is paid to those former Post Officer workers quickly and efficiently.

A scheme, backed by the government, had already been set up to arrange financial redress and compensation for those affected.

As of June, about 400 payments had been made to those affected.

A former Post Office worker who waited 15 years for justice celebrated having his conviction overturned in November with "a nice cup of tea".

Anthony Gant, of Newtown in Powys, was wrongly convicted of false accounting back in 2007, when software showed his branch to be short of more than £14,550.

He was one of six more former Post Office workers to have their criminal convictions overturned at Southwark Crown Court last month.

"It has been a very strange 15 years," Mr Gant told the BBC. He was left in utter disbelief when the sums stopped adding up each week.

"I thought it was a mistake. I was making good the losses myself, topping it up. I was drawing out money on credit cards, but in the end I had no funds to keep doing it," Mr Gant explained. "I buried my head in the sand."