The Justice for Subpostmaster Alliance (JFSA) is bringing a complaint to the Parliamentary Ombudsman on behalf of its 555 members. The subpostmasters had their contracts terminated. Many lost their businesses and homes, a number were charged with false accounting and theft, and some even received custodial sentences―yet it was all because of mistakes made by the faulty computer system.
The Post Office subsequently paid £57m to settle the case last year. However, the JFSA says just £11.5m actually made it into the hands of the subpostmasters involved due to the costs of bringing the case. The JFSA says this represents, on average, about 5% of their actual losses.
The JFSA has now instructed law firm Stevens Bolton to act on its behalf, and is submitting a complaint to the Parliamentary Ombudsman alleging maladministration within the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). The government was the sole shareholder in the Post Office when the scandal happened.
Sarah Murray, head of dispute resolution at Stevens & Bolton, said: ‘Members of the JFSA have been through so much, as a result of the wrongs suffered at the hands of the Post Office.
‘The failure of the government to intervene has exacerbated their suffering.’
Kay Linnell, forensic accountant and adviser to JFSA, said: ‘This is about recovering the considerable legal costs incurred by members in taking the Post Office to court to expose inherent faults in the Post Office’s Horizon computer system, the incompetence of the Post Office and the failings of the government, who as the only shareholder, failed to manage its subsidiary.
‘The 555 claimants who were brave enough to join this group litigation, having already suffered such personal anguish and financial loss, have borne the additional financial burden of funding this action. They cannot recover their funding costs as a result of the Jackson Reforms of 1 April 2013.
‘It cannot be right that individual impecunious litigants, who have succeeded in their case, are excluded from the equitable repayment of the financing costs. We are still striving for justice to be done and we need help from the public now.’
The JFSA has set up a CrowdJustice platform to help it fund its legal fight. See: www.crowdjustice.com/case/post-office-victims.
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