Post Office: Law quashing convictions needs ‘legally binding’ redress deadline, MPs say

The government’s new law to quash the wrongful convictions of sub-postmasters affected by the Post Office Horizon IT scandal should have a “legally binding” redress time frame, MPs have said.

Postal affairs minister Kevin Hollinrake introduced the new Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill in the House of Commons this afternoon and said the government would provide fair financial redress to wronged sub-postmasters “as promptly as we can”.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the bill, which the government hopes will become law before the summer, “marks an important step forward in finally clearing” the hundreds of wronged branch managers who have had their lives “callously torn apart”.

But business and trade committee chairman Liam Byrne warned the proposed law was “not job done”, and called for there to be a “legally binding time frame” for redress.

“The Post Office is still left in charge of processing too many claims, when’s it patently not fit for purpose,” he said. 

He added: “There’s no legally binding time frame for tabling offers to victims once their claims are in, and nor is there any standard guidance of what victims are entitled to. 

“We’ve got a lot of work still to do to get this Bill right for victims who have suffered so much and for so long.”

While shadow business minister Rushanara Ali said delays were leading to “further financial distress and further suffering”. 

She added: “Even if these legally binding targets are not adopted, what assurances can the minister give that he will meet his target of ensuring all compensation is paid out, is out of the door, by the end of the year?”

Hollinrake said it was not in the gift of ministers to ensure all Post Office compensation is paid by the end of the year, but insisted the government “absolutely” wanted that to happen.

“In terms of do we want to deliver by the end of the year, absolutely we do,” Hollinrake said. “I would just point out to her, as I said in my remarks, not everything is within our gift.” 

“We can’t compel a claimant to submit or when that will happen. If somebody put in a claim right towards the end of the year, it may not be possible to do that for the end of the year,” he added.

The legislation will exonerate those convicted in England and Wales due to faulty Horizon accounting software in what has been branded Britain’s biggest miscarriage of justice.

The long-running saga hit the headlines earlier this year after ITV’s acclaimed drama ‘Mr Bates vs The Post Office’, starring Toby Jones, aired just after Christmas.