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What is This Claim About?
Hundreds of sub-postmasters were falsely accused of stealing after the Post Office’s Horizon system created errors showing missing money.
The sub-postmasters were blamed for the system’s errors, resulting in terminations and even prosecutions.
While some sub-postmasters have received justice, a majority have not.
The group action is pressing for compensation for the wrongly accused.
Who’s Eligible?
You may be an eligible claimant in the Post Office Horizon scandal if you:
- suffered financial losses,
- received disciplinary actions,
- were terminated,
- were prosecuted, or
- have experienced damage to your reputation
If you think you were wrongly accused due to the errors of Horizon, you could qualify to join the action.
How Much Compensation Will I Receive?
According to law firm Ward Hadaway, if you are a current or former sub-postmaster who didn’t participate in the recent court case, you could be eligible for compensation.
If you are a sub-postmaster who endured financial losses, legal battles or prosecution as a result of the mistakes of the Horizon system, you could may be able to receive compensation.
The compensation to claimants will be determined in court.
How Do I Join?
If you are a postmaster who was wrongly accused of illicit activities due to the Post Office’s Horizon system, you could be an eligible claimant. Hudgell Solicitors has already helped 33 postmasters, but the firm estimates about 900 people could have been affected.
Contact one of the following law firms to see if you qualify.
Hudgell Solicitors
Ward Hadaway
More law firms may be added.
MPs are pressing for compensation for sub-postmasters who have been falsely accused of fraudulent violations in the Post Office Horizon scandal.
Sub-postmasters were unjustifably accused of false accounting, fraud and theft after the Horizon IT system was brought in to the Post Office in 1999, Chronicle Live reported.
The Post Office’s Horizon system inaccurately portrayed cash deficits, which caused many postmasters to be fired — and some imprisoned, according to Sky News.
The Horizon scandal lasted about a decade, costing millions of pounds over numerous legal challenges.
As a result of the false claims, some sub-postmasters endured bankruptcy, prosecution or jail time for violations they did not commit, according to ChronicleLive.
Over 550 claims have been filed in a group action against the Post Office, seeking compensation for those wrongly accused of crimes.
The Post Office has accepted 44 appeals from sub-postmasters requesting their convictions be overturned.
According to Sky News, it is likely the convictions of the sub-postmasters will be reversed because the Post Office has no plans to stop the 44 cases from going to the Court of Appeal.
The problematic Horizon system’s shortfalls were not revealed until December 2019 when the High Court ruled several “bugs, errors and defects” in the system caused disparities in the sub-postmasters’ accounts,” Sky News reported.
As far as Post Office Horizon compensation, though, MPs say no progress has been made.
“I understand that 2,000 claims have been made, but not a penny has yet been paid out,” North Durham MP Kevan Jones told Chronicle Live. Jones is one of many MPs to urge the government to make more progress to give sub-postmasters Post Office Horizon compensation they deserve.
The Post Office is owned by the U.K. government, although it runs as its own business.
The Post Office has agreed to an inquiry into the Horizon system scandal, but not to consider compensation, ChronicleLive reported.
Jones said ministers had vowed there will be a process for sub-postmasters to claim Post Office Horizon compensation in June 2020, but, according to ChronicleLive, no compensation has been paid to the victims.
While speaking in the House of Commons, Jones asked Business Minister Paul Scully if there would be a compensation process announced or whether people would need to pursue cases through the courts, ChronicleLive reported.
“A full public inquiry is needed,” Jones said. “Without that, we will not get to the truth of what is, as I have already said, a national scandal.”
Other MPs also are still pressing for the victims to receive Post Office Horizon compensation.
MP Chi Onwurah said it is an injustice that the Horizon inquiry would not include consideration of compensation.
“It is right that the Government have finally announced a judge-led inquiry into this scandal, which Labour called for months ago, but despite this House having expressed its concerns forcefully, the terms of reference deliberately exclude compensation,” Onwurah said, according to ChronicleLive. “Will the Minister amend the terms of reference to include compensation and deliver true justice for the victims?”
The chairman of the Post Office, Tim Parker, gave a statement about the faulty Horizon system.
“I am sincerely sorry on behalf of the Post Office for historical failings which seriously affected some postmasters,” Parker said, according to Sky News. “Post Office is resetting its relationship with postmasters with reforms that prevent such past events ever happening again.”
In December 2019, the Post Office settled a civil claim launched by 550 postmasters, paying almost £58 million.
