The man who has led the marketing campaign for justice for sub-postmasters has instructed Sky News his overriding precedence now could be checking out the compensation for victims of the Post Office scandal.
Alan Bates is because of seem earlier than MPs on Tuesday and has confirmed he’ll proceed to push for the cash households deserve after one of many worst miscarriages of justice seen within the UK.
Speaking to Sky News forward of the listening to, Mr Bates stated: “I have one concern – and it’s to get the compensation right – that’s it.
“They ought to be shifting heaven and earth to get it performed and get it performed quick.”
The Post Office Horizon IT scandal saw more than 700 sub-postmasters and mistresses convicted after faulty Fujitsu software made it appear that money was going missing from branches.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak confirmed last Wednesday that all victims of the IT scandal will have their convictions quashed under fast-tracked legislation after growing pressure to take more serious action.
The move was prompted by the TV drama, Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, which tracked the campaigners’ two-decade fight for justice and laid bare the appalling treatment victims had suffered at the hands of the organisation.
The public outcry that followed the programme has led directly to the government’s intervention – it is a highly unusual move that has come midway through a long-running independent inquiry into the scandal.
Mr Sunak said last week “we have paid nearly £150m in compensation to over 2,500 victims” and pledged that victims would be “swiftly exonerated and compensated”.
Number 10 confirmed that sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses can be eligible for a £75,000 upfront cost with the brand new legislation, however acknowledged that will not be adequate for everybody.
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Speaking forward of his subsequent appointment with MPs in Westminster on Tuesday, Alan Bates stated: “I have no idea if it will help but they [MPs] have previously done a good job for the victims, but I will be concentrating on one thing.
“They will get sick and fed up of me saying it, however it’s the compensation.”
Another of these wrongly convicted, Jo Hamilton from Hampshire, will give proof – together with the present bosses of the Post Office and the tech agency Fujitsu.
Ministers have stated that the federal government will pursue Fujitsu, the producer behind the Horizon system, to assist pay for the compensation, if the unbiased inquiry into the scandal finds the agency is at fault.
The public inquiry is anticipated to conclude and publish its findings in 2025.
Source: information.sky.com”