Post Office campaigner Sir Alan Bates agrees ‘seven-figure’ compensation deal over Horizon scandal
Sir Alan Bates, who led the campaign for justice for post office operators over the Horizon scandal, has reached an agreement to resolve his own claim with the government, which is reportedly in the seven-figure region.
Following a “take it or leave it” compensation offer earlier this year, which Sir Alan claimed amounted to less than half of the compensation claim, the former sub-postmaster has now reached a settlement.
He led a group of 555 sub-postmasters who set out to prove the Horizon system was at fault for shortcomings in their accounts, and won the case against the Post Office in the High Court in 2019.
A public inquiry was held this year and found that nearly 1,000 people were wrongfully prosecuted and convicted in the UK between 1999 and 2015 over faulty Fujitsu software.
Sir Alan, whose story was portrayed by actor Toby Jones in the ITV drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, was knighted in the King’s Birthday Honors for his services to justice.
A Department of Business and Trade spokesman said: Independent: “We pay tribute to Sir Alan Bates for his long history of campaigning on behalf of victims and have now paid out more than £1.2bn to more than 9,000 victims. We can confirm that Sir Alan’s claim has reached the end of the scheme and has been resolved.”
It is unclear how much Sir Alan received from the government. A Sky News source suggested he could be worth between £4 million and £5 million.
Following the Supreme Court decision, a Class Action Order scheme was established to compensate 555 sub-postmasters. There are other compensation plans available, including the Rollover Conviction Plan and the Horizon Conviction Revision Plan.
However, Sir Alan criticized the compensation plans created. In April, he sent an email to members of his group calling on them to take the government to court over delays in financial compensation to victims, adding that a judicial review “would probably be the quickest way to achieve justice for everyone.”
In May it was revealed that 80 per cent of postmasters in Sir Alan’s group had accepted full and final compensation or had been paid a large proportion of their offer.
During the investigation, the Post Office’s former chief executive, Paula Vennells, apologized to sub-postmasters affected by the scandal.
Fujitsu’s UK boss Paul Paterson also apologized. He told the inquiry: “There were errors and errors in the system. And we assisted the post office with investigations into sub-postmasters. We are really sorry about that.”
