Compensation claims for victims of Post Office scandal should not be subjected to delays
The Post Office Horizon scandal shocked the nation and the conclusion of the first tranche of a public inquiry’s final report spells out exactly why.
Subpostmasters were still prosecuted even though Post Office bosses should have known that the Horizon system was faulty. The Post Office instead “maintained the fiction that its data was always accurate”.
Lives were lost and many more were ruined. The inquiry reported that a total of 59 victims of the Horizon scandal contemplated suicide with 10 attempting to take their own lives. And that there was a “real possibility” 13 people took their own lives as a result of the suffering they endured during the scandal.
That is why the 10,000 people who are eligible to submit compensation claims should have those claims dealt with quickly and efficiently. The victims do not need another layer of injustice on top of everything that they have already gone through.
The damning criticism of compensation schemes from Sir Wyn Williams, chairman of the inquiry, should be ringing in the ears of Government ministers.
He said the main compensation scheme available to subpostmasters, the Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS), has been subjected to “egregious delays”.
No one expects a quick fix but delays to compensation are not acceptable. Not after everything that the public already knows about this scandal.
The Government needs to get on top of the delays. Sir Wyn’s suggestion that it establish a public body to devise, administer and deliver compensation to those wronged by authorities should be adopted.
This part of the report stopped short of attributing blame but Sir Wyn’s conclusions on who was at fault for overseeing the scandal are expected in the coming months. And alongside compensation there needs to be accountability.