Post Office needs to be taken out of Horizon redress scheme, MP says
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The Post Office needs to be “taken out” of its role in administering redress schemes for victims of the Horizon scandal, Labour MP Liam Byrne has said, as the “legal bill appears to be racking up all the time” on compensation. The Commons Business and Trade Committee said compensation for victims is still not being paid quickly enough and the Government should face financial penalties if the process does not speed up.
In a report published on Wednesday, one year to the day since the ITV drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office brought the scandal to widespread public attention, the Committee said although there had been improvements, redress schemes were still “poorly designed” and payment was still “not fast enough”.
Just £499 million of the budgeted £1.8 billion has been paid out so far, while 14% of those who had applied to the Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS) before the original 2020 deadline had still not settled their claims. Meanwhile, the committee criticised the fees being paid to the lawyers administering the redress schemes.
Committee chairman Mr Byrne said: “The fault lies with the Post Office but ultimately Government is the shareholder in the Post Office and acts on our behalf. “And so the first thing that needs to happen is we need clear, regular monthly statements from the Post Office about how much they’re actually spending on lawyers, because it’s incredibly difficult for us to extract the information, and Parliament, frankly, has got the right to know, and so does the public.
