Lawyer hits out over delays in compensating staff wrongly convicted in Post Office scandal

Lawyers representing Post Office workers wrongfully convicted of crimes have hit out over delays in agreeing damages.

Between 2000 and 2014, more than 700 sub-postmasters were wrongly accused of theft, fraud and false accounting due to a flaw in a computer system Horizon. A number of them even ended up serving time in prison.

A year has passed since a landmark day at the Court of Appeal in London when 39 subpostmasters – the largest ever appellant group to appear at the Royal Courts of Justice – had long-standing convictions quashed. The number of convictions to be overturned has now climbed to a total of 73, with the very first as long as 16 months ago, at Southwark Crown Court.

Read more: ‘I do not own anything’ – devastated former Grimsby sub-postmaster lost everything in Post Office scandal

But Neil Hudgell, of Hudgell Solicitors, who is negotiating with the Post Office on a number of ‘lead cases’ to establish the value of compensation cases, said matters are not progressing quickly enough.

Among those he represents are David and Gillian Blakey, from Grimsby who were responsible for the accounts at the Riby Square sub-post office. When the computer system showed shortfalls each month, he and wife Gillian paid up to £2,000 of their own money to make the balance up. Gillian was sacked while David was taken to court by the Post Office and convicted of false accounting.

Mr Hudgell said: “All but three have had interim payments, said by the Post Office to have been made ‘to alleviate immediate financial need’. Our clients feel the Post Office have made that sound like they have been doing them a favour.

“They were not, they were handing back money wrongly taken from them in the first place. This money has mostly gone on squaring off debts built up as a result of what they went through and life’s essentials. Our clients want closure but we are not yet there and time is not on some peoples’ side.

“We have lead cases going through the system. We are narrowing issues but not quickly enough. We need a further round of interim payments to settle agreed heads of loss. Otherwise, we run the risk of clients feeling forced to settle under value, just to see some sort of settlement sooner rather than later.

“We need early dispute resolution to resolve contentious areas. At the moment though we are poles apart in how we value some of the losses suffered by the subpostmasters.”

Mr Hudgell is now calling for compensation cases to be brought to a successful conclusion by the end of 2022.

He said: “Another round of lengthy High Court proceedings need to be avoided if at all possible. We need to bring these cases to a close in the course of this calendar year, so these decent, honest people can move on with their lives and finally enjoy some peace of mind. Many feel strongly that their ongoing suffering continues to be used as a lever to make derisory settlement offers.

“It needs more than Ministers’ sound bites to bring this about; it needs dedicated time and resource to turn words into deeds, and for proper and meaningful offers to be put forward. For some poor subpostmasters time has beaten them, they have died or lost capacity. For others the clock is ticking quickly too.

“Perhaps the words of one subpostmaster to me best sum up the current position. They said; “I’m concerned now that the interim payment has run out, just settling personal loans, debts and essential house repairs. My freezer, washer and microwave have all packed up over recent months, and now my boiler! I may no longer be a criminal but I’m still very much a victim. Post Office continues to control my life and cause me stress and sleepless nights”.

The post Office says it is working on providing compensation to those affected.

A spokesman told PA: “We are sincerely sorry for the impact of the Horizon scandal on the lives of victims and their families. We are in no doubt about the human cost.

“While we cannot change the past, we have taken determined action to ensure that justice is provided for people affected, together with full, fair and final compensation. We have provided swift financial relief with interim payments of up to £100,000 to the overwhelming majority of the 73 people who have had convictions overturned, ahead of final settlements.

“Separately, we have made compensation offers to more than half of people who applied to the Historical Shortfall Scheme, and of those the majority have already been accepted and paid. Offers and payments continue to be made every week.”