Some family members of the victims of the Horizon scandal will be eligible for compensation, the Government has announced. Ministers “want to look after those family members who suffered most” as a result of Horizon failures, business minister Gareth Thomas has said.
He added that the Government will meet Sir Wyn Williams’s recommendation to provide “redress to close family members of the most adversely affected by Horizon”. A first tranche of the public inquiry’s final report into the scandal, published on Tuesday, laid bare the devastating consequences for victims and their families, from police investigations to convictions and imprisonment.
Speaking to MPs in the Commons, Mr Thomas said: “Two of his recommendations address issues which we have been already working on across Government and with the advisory board, and I can confirm that we accept Sir Wyn’s recommendation that claimants should be able to bank the best offer they get from the GLO [group litigation order] process, and should not put it at risk if they choose to go to the independent panel.
“Secondly, we will provide redress for family members of postmasters who suffered because of the scandal.
“I have met the group Lost Chances for postmaster children who have campaigned with considerable courage on this issue.
“Sir Wyn rightly recognises that designing a suitable compensation scheme for family members raises some very difficult issues.
“Nonetheless, we want to look after those family members who suffered most, meeting Sir Wyn’s recommendation that we should give, and I quote, ‘redress to close family members of the most adversely affected by Horizon’.”
Family members of Horizon victims who themselves have suffered will need to provide “contemporaneous written evidence” to receive compensation, Mr Thomas said.
He told the Commons: “We will now discuss the details of how a scheme should be run with claimants’ lawyers, the independent advisory board, and the Lost Chances group.
“It will be open to close family members of existing Horizon claimants who themselves suffered personal injury, including psychological distress because of their relatives’ suffering.
“Other than in exceptional circumstances, we will need contemporaneous written evidence of that personal injury.”
Between 1999 and 2015, approximately 1,000 subpostmasters were prosecuted after faulty Horizon accounting software made it look as though money was missing from their accounts.
The report said 59 victims of the scandal contemplated suicide with 10 attempting to take their own lives.
