Gwynne calls for fair compensation in Post Office Horizon Scandal
Andrew Gwynne, MP for Denton and Reddish, has co-signed a letter to the Secretary of State for Business Energy & Industrial Strategy setting out concerns around the Post Office Horizon Scandal.
The scandal relates to a faulty computer system called Horizon, which was introduced in the 1990s to process transactions in post offices. An IT glitch meant that the system falsely showed financial shortfalls, and many sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses were either criminally convicted or forced to pay back thousands of pounds they did not actually owe.
The compensation scheme, which was announced earlier last year, aims to award financial payouts to hundreds of Post Office managers who were caught up in the Horizon IT Scandal.
However, concerns have been raised that the compensation announced by the Government will exclude the 555 litigants who originally brought civil proceedings against Post Office Ltd back in 2018/19, from claiming.
In a letter penned by Labour MP Kate Jarrow, and co-signed by a number of MP’s including Gwynne, the Government is urged to address this exclusion. The letter states that “it cannot be right that those who decided not to join the original litigation now have access to full and fair compensation whilst the group of 555 litigants have only recovered a tiny fraction of their losses.”
Gwynne has supported postmasters involved in the Horizon scandal for a number of years, and last year raised the plight of his own constituent Della Ryan, the former sub-postmistress at Dukinfield Post Office.
Commenting, Andrew Gwynne said:
“The Horizon Scandal is a total miscarriage of justice, and it is only right that all those who were affected by the IT failure are properly compensated for years of hell.
I know from speaking with Della Ryan, former sub-postmistress at Dukinfield Post Office, that nothing will ever make up for decades of emotional trauma. But it is the least we can do to make sure that all victims are recognised and compensated. It simply isn’t right that 555 litigants, who helped bring this scandal to light, will be excluded from this scheme.
I’m proud to have written this letter alongside colleagues, and hope the Government urgently reconsiders its approach.”
To read the full letter click here.
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READ: In this week's Tameside Reporter, I wrote about the Omicron variant, and the really concerning issue of ventilation in schools - which was recently raised by Poplar Street Primary in Audenshaw. If we are to live with Covid, the Government must do more to support businesses, schools and staff. 
