Alan Bates will reject the government’s Post Office Horizon scandal compensation offer, a figure that he says is only about a sixth of what he requested.
The former post office operator, whose story was the inspiration for the ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office, reportedly described the package as “cruel” and “derisory”.
The scandal, frequently described as “the most widespread miscarriage of justice in UK history”, resulted in more than 700 post office operators being prosecuted between 1999 and 2015 for theft, fraud and false accounting because of faulty accounting software installed in the late 1990s.
After being forced to stop running his Post Office branch in 2003, Bates spearheaded the fight for justice and compensation. More than two decades later, he finally received an offer of compensation from the government on Wednesday but called it “offensive”.
“‘Full and fair’ might be his majesty’s government’s interpretation, but in reality the offer is derisory, offensive and after all this time, yes, cruel,” he told the Telegraph. “I will absolutely be turning this offer for financial redress down.
“It is just a terrible way to treat human beings – and I have heard from several sub-postmasters who have received similarly derisory offers, while others are still waiting.
“Bearing in mind my solicitors engaged forensic accountants to prepare my claim in accordance with established legal principles, it now seems we have to spend hours and hours over weeks and months with government-appointed lawyers at who knows what cost, just to point out these legal principles to them. But to them it might just be a good earner.”
In December, the Post Office almost halved the amount set aside for payments to branch managers wrongly convicted in the Horizon IT scandal as fewer than expected have won or brought appeals.
It said in its annual results covering the year to the end of March that it was now holding £244m for compensation payments related to overturned convictions, down from £487m a year ago, after 38% of appeals against convictions were either turned down, withdrawn or unsuccessful.
Bates added: “I have been in the queue along with all the others in the scheme, but if my case is an example of the way they are going to treat all the cases, we may as well start looking at a legal action again and let the judiciary decide.”
More than 900 post office operators were prosecuted after they were blamed for the shortfalls, with some being sent to prison. Operators who had lost out were invited to submit a claim to the government compensation scheme after winning a high court case against the Post Office.
Earlier this month, executives at Fujitsu told MPs it would contribute to compensation payments to operators who were wrongfully convicted after failures in the Horizon IT software made by the Japanese tech firm.
Ministers have promised that every branch owner-operator whose wrongful conviction had been overturned would receive £600,000 in compensation from the government.
