A further victory has been secured for postmasters in the Post Office IT scandal, with the extension of a compensation scheme.
The government has extended the window for claims under the Historical Shortfall Scheme - giving back money they paid in to make up the accounts caused by faults with the Horizon system.
These were men and women who were not convicted - as many were - but had covered discrepancies at the time. Neil Hudgell, owner and managing director of Hull’s Hudgell Solicitors, worked alongside Hull East MP Karl Turner, a Westminster champion of the issue, to right many of the wrongs.
Read more: £19.5m interim compensation package for postmasters in Horizon IT scandal
The scheme launched in May 2020, and while “great progress on delivering compensation” has been reported, with 82 per cent of claimants having been made an offer - and £52 million put forward - further funding is being put in to see it to its conclusion.
Postal Affairs Minister Dean Russell said: “My priority is to ensure that all those impacted by the Horizon scandal receive compensation fairly and quickly. By coming forward with additional funding, we are ensuring that innocent postmasters who were unable to tap into the Historical Shortfall Scheme do not miss out on the compensation they deserve.”
The scandal stretches back more than 20 years, and had a devastating impact on the lives of many postmasters. Faults in the software, rolled out from the late Nineties, led to shortfalls in branches’ accounts. The Post Office demanded sub-postmasters cover the shortfalls, and in many cases wrongfully prosecuted them between 1999 and 2015 for false accounting or theft.
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