The UK government has denied that former chairman of the Post Office, Henry Staunton, was told to delay compensation payments to victims of the Horizon scandal, calling the claims “utterly refuted”. Staunton told the Sunday Times that he was instructed to “stall” payments ahead of the election, but a government spokesman rebutted this, saying that compensation had actually been accelerated. Hundreds of subpostmasters were prosecuted due to mistakes in the now-infamous Horizon IT system, and it has been described as the biggest miscarriage of justice in UK history. The scandal has been in the public eye more recently with the broadcast of the ITV drama, Mr Bates Versus the Post Office.
Mr Staunton was appointed Post Office chairman in December 2022 but stood down last month when Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch indicated that “new leadership” was required on handling the scandal. Speaking to the Sunday Times, he claimed that a senior civil servant had instructed him early in his term as chairman to slow the rate of compensation payments, apparently to help the government’s finances, citing “straight financials”. Staunton purportedly ignored the instruction and refused to allow the post office to limp into the election.
The Post Office has denied the allegations, issuing a statement saying that it refutes the assertions put to it and the words and phrases allegedly used, and that it is dedicated to supporting faster justice and redress for victims. Meanwhile, shadow business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, said that compensation to the victims should not be delayed and that doing so for party political purposes would be a further insult to subpostmasters. Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey called for ministers to explain to Parliament what had happened.
The slow pace of overturning convictions and making compensation payments has led to calls for a mass exoneration of those affected, with some suggesting that it is necessary to put this scandal to bed. Mr Saunders told the Sunday Times that Post Office chief executive Nick Read had written to the Justice Secretary Alex Chalk with legal opinion from the Post Office’s solicitors, Peters & Peters, that in more than 300 cases, convictions were supported by evidence not related to the Horizon software. In essence, this was attempting to undermine the exoneration argument. The Post Office has sought to deny this, insisting that it is committed to supporting faster justice and helping the Inquiry find out what happened
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