Government did not want to ‘harass’ Post Office victims by chasing up claims

Last year, the Department for Business and Trade opened a scheme to compensate 800 post office workers, but only 42% have accepted a fixed and final sum of £600,000. Photograph: Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock

Post office operators yet to claim compensation of at least £600,000 each relating to the Horizon IT scandal have not been chased up by officials because the government did not want to “harass” them with letters, it has emerged.

In a report criticising the speed and handling of payouts after the Post Office scandal, the House of Commons public accounts committee (PAC) said the government is taking “insufficient action” identifying all the operators eligible to claim some of the £1.7bn being paid out across four compensation schemes.