Sun, 25 May 2025

Sun, 25 May 2025 Post Office offer amounts to just half of my claim, says Bates

Former subpostmaster Sir Alan Bates has accused the government of presiding over "quasi-kangaroo courts".
Former subpostmaster Sir Alan Bates accuses government of offering compensation that's less than half of his claim, calling it a "take it or leave it" deal. He says the government is presiding over "quasi-kangaroo courts" and altering their own judgements. The Department for Business and Trade responds by saying unhappy claimants can have their case reviewed by a panel of experts. Sir Alan's fight for justice began after he was wrongly prosecuted due to the faulty Horizon IT system, which led to the prosecution of over 900 subpostmasters between 1999 and 2015. He has been leading a group of 555 subpostmasters in a landmark legal action against the Post Office, with progress being slow. The government set up a specific compensation fund but Sir Alan says promises that it would be "non-legalistic" have turned out to be "worthless". He calls for an independent body to be created to deliver compensation schemes for public sector scandals. The latest offer from the government amounts to 49.2% of his original claim, which he has rejected. The Department for Business and Trade says it has quadrupled the total amount paid to postmasters since entering government, but Sir Alan remains critical of the process.
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