Postmasters who exposed scandal to be compensated

Post office workers who won a landmark civil case following a faulty computer software scandal will be compensated, the government says.

The 555 people who won the case during part of Britain's biggest miscarriage of justice will get the same pay-out as postmasters who were wrongly convicted.

They had previously be unable to claim compensation and had their Post Office settlements swallowed up by legal fees.

The announcement comes as a public inquiry into the scandal continues.

Between 2000 and 2014, hundreds of sub-postmasters and mistresses were accused of theft, fraud and false accounting due to faults in the Horizon computer software being used at branches across the UK.

In 2019, a group of 555 subpostmasters and mistresses successfully challenged the Post Office over the accusations in the High Court.

That case set the legal precedent and paved the way for a series of cases in which 72 people had criminal convictions overturned.

They were wrongfully convicted of theft and false accounting when the Horizon computer software made it look like money was missing from their branches.

The government opened a historic shortfall scheme to compensate more than 700 wrongfully convicted former branch managers.

However, the 555 people who won the High Court case could not participate in the scheme, and despite winning nearly £43m in compensation in 2019, the group's funds were swallowed up through legal costs to Therium, the company which funded its litigation.

Mr Scully told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that the compensation paid to the 555 people would be "absolutely parallel" to the other Post Office workers who had been compensated through the historic shortfall scheme.

He said the group were "pioneers" and had "broken open" the scandal.

"I want to make sure they get that full compensation," he said. "It is a massive scandal and it's something I am absolutely determined to put right."

Asked if the families of 32 out of the 555 people who have since died would be able to receive the compensation, Mr Scully said he would look into it.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said without the "efforts of these postmasters, this terrible injustice may have never been uncovered so it is only right that they are compensated fully and fairly".

The new compensation scheme comes as High Court judge Sir Wyn Williams leads a public inquiry into the Post Office scandal, which has heard testimonies from Post Office staff, some of which were wrongly accused or convicted of crimes they didn't commit.

A total of 72 have had their names cleared so far.

The inquiry - which is expected to run for the rest of this year - is examining whether the Post Office knew about faults in the IT system, Horizon, which was developed by Japanese company Fujitsu.

It will also ask how and why they were left to shoulder the blame.

The Post Office has previously said it is "sincerely sorry for the impact of the Horizon scandal on the lives of victims and their families and we are in no doubt about the human cost".

"In addressing the past, our first priority is that full, fair and final compensation is provided and we are making good progress," it added.

The Department for Business has previously said it is "eager to see all Horizon-related issues resolved fairly and quickly, including for the 555, who played a crucial role in bringing this scandal to light".