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The 70-year-old, the subject of the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office revealed he has been told to ‘take it or leave it’
The former postmaster who led a campaign for justice against the Post Office amidst the Horizon scandal has revealed he has been offered compensation less than half of his original claim. Sir Alan Bates said the offer had been made on a “take it or leave it” basis.
The 70-year-old, who has been campaigning for 20 years in support of thousands of subpostmasters wrongly accused of dishonesty because of faulty software, says a “quasi-kangaroo court” presided over by the UK Government has been responsible for the compensation scheme.
The scandal, dramatised in the award winning ITV programme Mr Bates vs The Post Office saw more than 900 post office staff members convicted of fraud, false accounting and theft as a result of the Horizon IT system falsely showing money was missing.
Convictions were overturned last year but many victims are still awaiting compensation.
Mr Bates, from Llandudno, has said he has been offered a “take it or leave it” compensation figure, amounting to 49.2% of his original claim, after making an appeal to independent reviewer Sir Ross Cranston.
Speaking to The Sunday Times, Mr Bates has called for an independent body to be set up to deal with compensation schemes for scandals involving the public sector.
He added: “I can already hear the sharpening of goose quills across Whitehall as the civil service prepares to snow politicians under with reasons it would not work.
“The sub-postmaster compensation schemes have been turned into quasi-kangaroo courts in which the Department for Business and Trade sits in judgment of the claims and alters the goalposts as and when it chooses.
“Claims are, and have been, knocked back on the basis that legally you would not be able to make them, or that the parameters of the scheme do not extend to certain items.”
The 555 claimants who took the Post Office to the High Court between 2017 and 2019 are eligible to seek redress from the group litigation fund (GLO), with claimants able to take a fixed sum of £75,000 or seek their own settlements.
For individual disputes, referrals are made to an independent panel for review or seek a final view from former High Court judge Sir Cranston.
A spokesperson for the Department for Business and Trade said: “We pay tribute to all the postmasters who have suffered from this scandal, including Sir Alan for his tireless campaign for justice, and we have quadrupled the total amount paid to postmasters since entering government.
“We recognise there will be an absence of evidence given the length of time that has passed, and we therefore aim to give the benefit of the doubt to postmasters as far as possible.
“Anyone unhappy with their offer can have their case reviewed by a panel of experts, which is independent of the government.”
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