Sir Alan Bates, who has led the campaign for justice for post office operators over the Horizon scandal, has reached a deal to settle his own claim with the government, reported to be in the seven-figure region.
After reportedly being given a “take it or leave it” offer of compensation earlier this year, which Sir Alan claimed amounted to less than half of his claim, the former subpostmaster has now reached a settlement.
He was at the head of a group of 555 subpostmasters that set out to prove that the Horizon system had been at fault for shortfalls in their accounts, winning a case against the Post Office at the High Court in 2019.
A public inquiry was then heard this year, finding that approximately 1,000 people were wrongly prosecuted and convicted throughout the UK between 1999 and 2015 as a result of the faulty Fujitsu software.
Sir Alan, whose story was portrayed by actor Toby Jones in ITV drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, received a knighthood in the King's Birthday Honours for his services to justice.
A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson told The Independent: “We pay tribute to Sir Alan Bates for his long record of campaigning on behalf of victims and have now paid out over £1.2 billion to more than 9,000 victims. We can confirm that Sir Alan’s claim has reached the end of the scheme process and been settled.”
It is unclear how much Sir Alan has received in the payout from the government. One source to Sky News has suggested it may be worth between £4m and £5m.
Following the High Court ruling, a Group Litigation Order scheme was set up to pay the 555 subpostmasters compensation. There are other compensations schemes, including the Overturned Convictions Scheme and the Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme.
However, Sir Alan has been critical of the compensation schemes set up. In April, he sent an email to members of his group, calling on victims to take the government to court over delays to financial redress, adding that a judicial review would “probably be the quickest way to ensure fairness for all”.
Back in May, it was understood that 80 per cent of postmasters in Sir Alan’s group had accepted a full and final redress or been paid most of their offer.
During the inquiry, the former chief executive of the Post Office Paula Vennells, apologised to the subpostmasters impacted in the scandal.
UK boss of Fujitsu, Paul Paterson, also apologised. He told the inquiry: “We did have bugs and errors in the system. And we did help the Post Office in their prosecutions of subpostmasters. For that we are truly sorry.”
