Sir Alan Bates given 'Take it or Leave it' offer of less than half of his post -horizon claim | Post -Horizontskandal

Sir Alan Bates, who led the 20-year-old campaign for the judiciary for postal companies over the horizontal scandal, has announced that he was given a compensation of less than half of his original claim with “Take IT of Leave IT”.

The 70-year-old, who was knighted last year, has accused the government of preparing a “quasi-kangaroo court” system for compensation.

Between 1999 and 2015, more than 900 postal operators were convicted of crimes such as fraud, false accounting and theft after the faulty Horizont -IT system has incorrectly shown that money was missing in branch accounts. The convictions were lifted by Parliament last year.

Many are still waiting for damages, although the previous government has announced that those whose convictions have been lifted are entitled to pay for £ 600,000.

Bates also accused the Department of Economic Affairs and Trade, which manages the compensation systems to reduce assurances when setting up assurances, and said the Sunday period that they had turned out to be “not legalistic” as “worthless”.

He said that he had received a final offer “Take it or leave it”, which made 49.2% of his original claim after he was referred to the appeal and the independent examiner of the system, Sir Ross Cranston.

However, the activist now calls for the creation of an independent body that would give compensation systems for scandals from the public sector: “I can already hear the sharpness of Gänsequills about Whitehall, since the public service is preparing for snow politicians with reasons under which it would not work.”

He added: “The compensation systems of Subpostmaster were converted into quasi-Kangaroo dishes in which the department for economy and trade assesses the claims and changed the goal posts if they want.

“Claims are and were repelled because they were legally unable to do them or that the parameters of the scheme do not extend to certain elements.”

The GLO program (Group Litigation Order) has been set up to achieve the 555 applicants who prepare the post office between 2017 and 2019 for the High Court.

According to the GLO, applicants can take a fixed amount of 75,000 GBP or strive for their own agreement.

If there are disputes in individual cases, they are referred to an independent body for checking.

Post -Office operator can also apply for a final view from Cranston, a former judge at the High Court, if you believe that the committee misunderstood it.

A spokesman for the business and trade division said: “We appreciate all postmasters who suffered from this scandal, including Sir Alan, for his tireless campaign for judiciary, and we quadruplated the total amount that has been paid to Postmasters since entering the government.

“We acknowledge that there will be no evidence due to the adoption of times, and we therefore want to use the doubt of the doubt about Postmaster as possible. Anyone who is not satisfied with their offer can check their case by an expert body that is independent of the government.”

At the beginning of this week it turned out that hundreds of former post office operators are compensated by the post office after it accidentally leaked its names and addresses in June 2024.

The Swiss Post said that the individual payments are limited to 5,000 GBP, although even higher claims can be pursued.