Postmasters previously offered derisory compensation by the Post Office are being given a new opportunity to claim under an independent appeals process. The Post Office has written to them offering the choice of appealing, or accepting a £75k flat payment. It’s one or the other – a difficult decision for which postmasters should receive detailed legal advice. But they’re being offered no help with legal costs, and few postmasters will be in a position to afford a lawyer. Many will take the path of least resistance and simply accept the £75k – which in some cases will be much less than they should receive.
The Post Office scandal probably needs no introduction. But, in short, between 2000 and 20171I have previously written that this was between 2000 and 2013, but I have spoken to postmasters who faced false allegations of theft as late as 2017, the Post Office falsely accused thousands of postmasters of theft. Some went to prison. Many had their assets seized and their reputations shredded. Marriages and livelihoods were destroyed, and at least 61 have now died, never receiving an apology or recompense. These prosecutions were on the basis of financial discrepancies reported by a computer accounting system called Horizon. The Post Office knew from the start that there were serious problems with the Horizon system, but covered it up, and proceeded with aggressive prosecutions based on unreliable data.
Our previous Post Office scandal coverage can be found here.
The HSS scheme
The Post Office created a scheme to pay compensation to about 2,750 of the postmasters who hadn’t been prosecuted for theft, but had been required to repay “shortfalls” and (in most cases) lost their livelihoods. It was first called the “Historical Shortfall Scheme” and then renamed to the “Horizon Shortfall Scheme” – the HSS. But, by accident or design, the process for claiming compensation was complex and highly legal, and the Post Office didn’t offer postmasters any legal assistance in putting their claim together.2They were offered legal expenses for considering any subsequent offer the Post Office made to them. But that was too late – the whole process was framed by the initial application, and for that, postmasters received no legal assistance
So many postmasters ended up receiving derisory amounts – in one case as low as £15.75. And many received nothing at all.
Campaigning postmasters like Christopher Head told the Post Office in 2023 that all the HSS settlements had to be reviewed. They were ignored, but kept pushing. Thanks to their efforts, and a subsequent recommendation from the independent Horizon Compensation Advisory Board, a new independent appeals process has been created by the Government for postmasters who feel their settlement was unfair.
The catch
Here’s the letter the Post Office is sending Postmasters who were eligible under the HSS scheme. There’s a catch:
Postmasters have the option of receiving a fixed sum payment of £75,000, or can go through a full appeal assessment if they believe their losses are more than £75,000.
Whether or not to accept the £75,000 is a difficult decision. A postmaster would need to carefully assess the losses they suffered, which requires detailed financial analysis, plus a legal assessment of appropriate level of damages for loss of reputation and stress. We believe that the legal costs for such an an exercise would be at least £10,000.
How much is the Post Office offering to cover?
Nothing:
The Post Office will contribute towards postmasters’ legal fees during any actual appeal, but will make no contribution for legal advice on the critical decision of whether to appeal.
Most postmasters are elderly and vulnerable; only a few will have the resources to properly investigate if they could recover more than £75,000.
They’re being denied the chance to make a proper decision. There are cases where postmasters should be claiming hundreds of thousands of pounds – but without legal advice, we fear many will simply take the £75,000.
It looks like, once more, the Post Office is choosing the path that minimises compensation.
The Government should force the Post Office to do the right thing and cover postmasters’ legal costs, at this initial stage as well as during the actual appeal process.
- 1I have previously written that this was between 2000 and 2013, but I have spoken to postmasters who faced false allegations of theft as late as 2017
- 2They were offered legal expenses for considering any subsequent offer the Post Office made to them. But that was too late – the whole process was framed by the initial application, and for that, postmasters received no legal assistance
7 responses to “The Post Office – pushing postmasters to accept £75,000 compensation without legal advice”
I am still waiting for an offer my consequential losses are very substantial I’m just hoping that as promised full and fair compensation without more delays are forthcoming
The POL offer to top up HSS claims will have some significant winners and losers. I have acted for applicants in HSS claims where the loss suffered has been £10 to £20k. An offer to top up compensation to £75k will be welcome news to them and will be happily accepted. There will also be a significant number of applicants who applied and did not take legal advice, despite the fact that the original offer letter included an offer to fund legal fees up to £1200 plus VAT. I understand that new HSS claims offer letters now allow reasonable legal fees with no specific figure. This means that SPM’s who have received the top up offer and have claims which could be potentially higher than £75k are in a worse position than if they sought legal advice when the offer was originally made. This “inequality of arms” needs to be rectified immediately.
Maybe I’m being naive, but wouldn’t the correct course of action be to go back and look at the SPM / Post Office accounts and try to come to a conclusion, involving the SPM and independent accountants, as to what the actual problem was at the time and how much was owed to each SPM? Or was the day to day book keeping so poor (or complex?) that this isn’t possible. It may not be 100% accurate, and it may take time, but if it was started 5 years ago it’d be dome by now.
The Post Office appears to have no reliable records of any kind that would enable such an analysis.
To a certain extent this is what is happening now. I have received an offer under the HSS scheme. Data was available for just under 2 years of an 8 year period where my mother was an SPM. The scheme operators used this data and applied an average per year for the full period. (I am the executor of my deceased mothers estate.)
A great public service, helping these people. Well done Dan
This seems eminently disgraceful! The illegal action was commenced and taken by the Post Office and they caused the prosecutions which it now appears were not equitable nor justifiable. So instead of paying compensation, they have decided on this offer of accept £75k now or decide on whether you want to chance your life and savings even more to get a bigger sum, which you may or may not be eligible for! The Post Office should be putting this right, not making a low ball offer and all claimant’s legal costs should be paid by the Post Office! They’ve wasted enough money on their own bad legal advice to date and are continuing to deliberately penalise sub post masters who should be fully recompensed! All caused by the Post Office!!