The government will then introduce a law aimed at overturning the wrongful conviction of the deputy postmaster general in the Horizon IT scandal.
Proposed Post Office (horizon Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the Systemic Offenses Bill “marked a significant step towards finally clearing the names of hundreds of wronged branch managers whose lives had been “mercilessly torn apart” “.
The legislation will exonerate those convicted of faulty Horizon accounting software in England and Wales, in what has been called the biggest miscarriage of justice in British legal history.
Downing Street said that under the law, a conviction will be automatically quashed if the following criteria are met:
• Conviction is prosecuted by the Post Office or the Crown Prosecution Service
• They relate to crimes related to post office operations between 1996 and 2018
• Related crimes involving theft, fraud and false accounting
• They object to the Deputy Postmaster General, his employees, officers, family members or direct employees working in post offices using Horizon Systems software.
Those whose convictions are overturned will receive an interim payment and have the option of accepting a fixed final offer of £600,000 immediately.
Mr Sunak said: “While I know nothing can make up for what they have been through, today’s legislation marks an important step towards finally clearing their names.
“We have a responsibility to the victims of this scandal, whose lives and livelihoods have been ruthlessly torn apart, to deliver the justice they have fought for so long and to ensure that something like this never happens again.”
Between 1999 and 2015, more than 700 deputy postmasters were prosecuted and criminally convicted by the Post Office because of flaws in Fujitsu’s Horizon IT system that led to the loss of funds at their branches.
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The government will also provide “enhanced” financial compensation to postmasters who, while not convicted or taking legal action against the post office, paid out of their own pockets for apparent losses caused by the Horizon system.
Downing Street said they would be entitled to a fixed sum of £75,000 through the Horizon Shortage Scheme.
Those who have settled with less money will be compensated up to this level.
The New Horizons Conviction Redress Scheme will be administered by the Department of Business and Trade and applications will be open to those whose convictions were quashed “as soon as possible” once the legislation is passed.
The government hopes the bill will gain royal assent and become law before MPs go on summer break.
Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch said: “It is absolutely right that we have eradicated the practice of wrongfully convicting postmasters based on bad evidence and it is a disgrace that they are being held accountable by the Post Office.”.“
Ministers believe the scale of the scandal is so great that the usual process for individuals to go through the courts will take too long.
Kevan Jones, Labor MP for North Durham and a member of the Horizon Pay Advisory Committee, said: “It’s great news that the government has adopted the recommendations of the independent advisory committee of which I am a member and has introduced the Post Office Crime Bill.
“This will exonerate hundreds of victims who have been convicted of crimes related to Post Office Horizon IT systems.
“We must pass this bill quickly before the summer recess so that those affected can get the justice and reparations they have long fought for.”
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