What Will the Post Office Horizon Scandal Victims Receive in Compensation?
In the News
Post Office workers who have had wrongful convictions for theft and false accounting overturned are to be offered £600,000 in compensation, the government has said.
More than 700 branch managers were given criminal convictions when faulty accounting software made it look like money was missing from their sites.
So far, 86 convictions have been overturned.
The Post Office minister said the sum was being offered "no ifs or buts".
The compensation is for postmasters whose convictions relied on the now discredited Horizon IT system, in return for them settling their claims.
Postmasters who have already received initial compensation payments, or have reached a settlement with the Post Office of less than £600,000, will be paid the difference.
The government said the offer aimed to "bring a resolution to the scandal".
Postmasters will continue to receive funds to cover legal fees. Anyone who does not want to accept the offer can continue with the existing process.
Others are still waiting to have their convictions overturned. Those who successfully do so in future, based on Horizon evidence, will also be entitled to the compensation.
Kevin Hollinrake, the Post Office Minister appointed last autumn, told the BBC: "If you've suffered a conviction, and you've had that conviction overturned, £600,000 is there waiting for you.
"We're doing this because people have suffered horrendous situations of course, financial loss as well as personal damage to reputation, and many other things have happened to people. So we want to get this compensation out the door."
He said the government had "erred on the side of generosity", but admitted that for some people it would not be enough.
"If you've suffered, if you've spent time in jail, if you lost your house, if your marriage has failed, all those things - if those things have happened to you, no amount of money will ever be enough," he said.
He added: "If you think your claim is worth more than £600,000, you can still go through the normal routes."
Some £21m has been paid in compensation so far to postmasters with overturned convictions.
It is one of three different compensation schemes that have been set up as the scandal developed.
The Post Office Horizon scandal has been described as "the most widespread miscarriage of justice in UK history".
Between 2000 and 2014, the Post Office prosecuted 736 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses - an average of one a week - based on information from a recently installed computer system called Horizon.
Some went to prison following convictions for false accounting and theft. Many were financially ruined and have described being shunned by their communities. Some have since died.
The Horizon inquiry is investigating the scandal and is likely to conclude in 2024.
Last month, Nick Read, the boss of the Post Office, agreed to return all of his bonus payment for his participation in the inquiry - a total amount of £54,400.
I don't think that's enough people lost everything in this scandal no matter what they said it wasn't good enough I feel for them all
Just read this on another site.
"Almost 60 former sub-postmasters and mistresses who were wrongly accused of stealing money after computer accounting errors have died before the end of the public inquiry. Four postmasters have taken their own lives and three other victims of the Horizon IT scandal died before they could be acquitted."
Although £600,000 will no doubt be welcomed by many, what price the loss of a wrongly accused loved one?
I feel somebody needs prosecuting for this whole debacle.
blacklabrador I read an article in the times and if I remember correctly one post master did actually kill themselves as a result of the wrongful conviction. No amount of money will make that right.
Unfortunately mud sticks, people are quick to read the negative headlines but don't follow up on the story so a lot of times miss the retraction(not their fault, everyone's so busy these days)
Government should not leave the guys who behind this scam. Money plays a greater role here.Much of people would have suffered
The compensation of £600,000 is a joke. After accusing the postmasters of stealing and ruining their livelihoods. No amount of money can change what they have suffered over the years.
Really shocking to see such huge money involved I here. It would have been there over the years. Governance is lagging really to look at all this
Absolutely disgusting what happened to these people. Ruined lives. It's Not OK to have done to these people
No use to the convicted that died before they cleared their name. Those who launched the system with the knowledge it was faulty are to blame and should be held accountable
comriegold ....Totally Horizons fault & even though they knew the system was faulty.Paula Vennells should hang her head in shame,absolutely disgusting how the postmasters & mistresses were accused of stealing from the post Office...
comriegold ...100% agree with you,those poor families went through hell, why should Paula Vennells walk away with that huge amount of money .
SHE should be held to account...SCANDALOUS !!!!
Sad what happened to these people. A clear sign that 100% reliance on technology is a no no 
Paula Vennells walks away with a huge payoffs & a CBE while the people who ran post offices have their livelihood & lives taken away...
Heads need to roll...Shocking!
janphoenix51 if it was my parents I'd be pursuing the horizon folk to the ends of the earth
I feel so blessed when this story broke out..I was a manager of a post office of the time this was happening and I could of so been one of these victims.
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