Post Office scandal campaigner Alan Bates slams slow progress of compensation to victims of the Horizon scandal as he calls for others to be taken out of control of the government
Hero Alan Bates has branded the compensation schemes set-up for fellow victims of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal “an utter disaster”.
Postmaster Sir Alan, who fought to expose the injustice for others, told MPs: “There are so many reasons why they are wrong and why they have caused so much grief, even nowadays.”
The campaigner, whose battle was featured in hit ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office, appeared before the Commons Public Accounts Committee alongside others battling for victims of other scandals.
The hearing was designed to look at the operation of seven government compensation schemes, four of those linked to the Post Office Horizon IT controversy. As of February this year, £3.5billion had been paid out to victims of the seven schemes, with estimates of another £11billion still to come.
Sir Alan said: “There is a fundamental problem with these schemes and that is the government being involved with them. That is a big mistake. The civil service just grinds them into the ground.”
He cited the example of one of the compensation schemes which was announced in March 2022, but took another three years to go live.
Any such schemes, for others wronged by the state, should be independently overseen, he told MPs. A Commons report on the Post Office scandal in March this year found more than 11,300 claimants had received payments and £1.44billion had been distributed. But it said thousands of sub-postmasters were still waiting for the “full and fair redress they are owed”.
The committee also heard from Windrush commissioner Rev Clive Foster, who said: “Trust is still very fragile and people feel like they have to be fighting the state all over again.”
The committee also heard from Windrush commissioner Rev Clive Foster, who said: “Trust is still very fragile and people feel like they have to be fighting the state all over again.”
He revealed how more than half those victims of the Windrush scandal who have submitted compensation claims have been told they will get nothing.
The hearing was told how victims of various scandals had lost faith in the different compensation schemes, and the time it had taken for their cases to be resolved.
“You have lawyers against lawyers again lawyers,” was Sir Alan’s criticism.
He added that of the more than 700 Horizon victims who at one stage had their convictions overturned, only around 100 had come forward to take part in the compensation process.
“The victims have lost trust in the system and they wouldn’t engage with these people,” he told MPs.
Those others giving evidence said obtaining key information to support compensation claims was another big issue.
Rev Foster said: “People just don’t know where to start.”
Sir Alan said getting hold of vital documents were also a “major problem, and has been over the whole process.”
The Met Office, which is investigating the Horizon scandal, met victim groups last week.
Sir Alan said, during the meeting, it emerged the police were also struggling to get hold of documents.
“They are up to a billion pieces of evidence so far gathered and they still have X years to,” he said, adding: “It does make you wonder whether people are sitting on and how long they have been sitting on it.”
His comments follows warnings from police chiefs last week that the criminal investigation into the Post Office scandal could be delayed by five years unless it receives millions of pounds in extra funding.
