{"id":46757,"date":"2022-07-31T15:35:09","date_gmt":"2022-07-31T15:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2022\/07\/31\/post-office-under-pressure-over-victims-pay-outs\/"},"modified":"2022-07-31T15:35:09","modified_gmt":"2022-07-31T15:35:09","slug":"post-office-under-pressure-over-victims-pay-outs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2022\/07\/31\/post-office-under-pressure-over-victims-pay-outs\/","title":{"rendered":"Post Office under pressure over victims’ pay-outs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A public inquiry into the postal scandal is putting pressure on the company and the government to speed up compensation payments to victims.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Chair Sir Wyn Williams will publish a progress report in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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If he is unhappy that the Post and the government are not following their recommendations, he will make a formal report to Parliament. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The scandal has been described as the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British history.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A public inquiry led by the retired judge was looking into the treatment of thousands of sub-postmasters who were forced to pay their own money to plug holes in accounts when a flawed IT system made it appear money was flowing into their branches absence. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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More than 700 people were criminally convicted. So far, 81 people have had their convictions overturned.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Interim payments of \u00a3100,000 were made to most, but not all, of those who were exonerated. No one has yet received a full and final settlement, and thousands more left behind out of pocket are seeking redress.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
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    \n
  • Why were hundreds of sub-postmasters prosecuted?<\/li>\n
  • Victims of the Post scandal should get more money<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
    \n

    Former Deputy Postmaster Richard Hawkes was one of five people exonerated in July, 18 years after they were convicted of false accounting. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

    “Now the weight has been lifted as your character is back to how it should be,” the 75-year-old told the BBC. But while the battle for his pure name is over, Mr. Hawkes is just beginning to seek redress for a conviction that has left a huge financial hole in his life.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

    After community service, Mr. Hawkes eventually found a job as a laboratory equipment cleaner, where he worked until he was 71 years old.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

    “Somehow we managed to keep the house,” he said, even though he still has a mortgage. It wasn’t until earlier this year that he finally repaid his brother a sum of money he had borrowed to cover debts the Post claimed he owed them. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

    About 15 months ago, the Post and the government, as the sole shareholder, apologized to the sub-postmasters and promised quick and fair compensation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

    However, many are still waiting. Sharon Brown, a former sub-postmaster in Sunderland and mother of two, was accused by the Post of theft in 2012 and is furious that her compensation has yet to arrive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

    She told the BBC she only survived thanks to the financial support of relatives, including her sister-in-law, who took out a loan for her. At one point, she had to rely on credit cards to buy food for her family.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

    “I want my life back,” she said. “I want to be able to walk around and hold my head up and finally be able to say, ‘I got compensation because they wronged me.’<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

    “You’ve ruined so many people’s lives, it’s heartbreaking.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

    A spokesman for the Post said: “Our priority is to ensure that there is meaningful compensation for victims and that such incidents can never happen again.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

    The public inquiry into the mail scandal, which began hearing evidence in June 2021, was designed to investigate who was responsible for the wrongful prosecution and why nothing was done to prevent it. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

    However, Sir Wyn was so concerned about the slow progress on sub-postmasters’ compensation that he produced special evidence at hearings in July. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

    During the investigative hearings, the Post admitted that it expected hundreds of requests for compensation for those without a conviction, but had received thousands. It initially did not have enough staff to process the claims and had previously dealt with the simpler claims of lower value. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

    Jane Hunt, the new Secretary of State for Postal Affairs who replaced Paul Scully, declined to comment on the issue. But she said she’s looking forward to “moving on [Paul Scully’s] excellent job in providing compensation to postmasters”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A public inquiry into the postal scandal is putting pressure on the company and the government to speed up compensation payments to victims. Chair Sir Wyn Williams will publish a progress report in the coming weeks. If he is unhappy that the Post and the government are not following their recommendations, he will make a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\nPost Office under pressure over victims' pay-outs - Tahrir News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2022\/07\/31\/post-office-under-pressure-over-victims-pay-outs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Post Office under pressure over victims' pay-outs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A public inquiry into the postal scandal is putting pressure on the company and the government to speed up compensation payments to victims. 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