Latest news with #LegacyHorizon
Business Recorder
5 days ago
- Business
- Business Recorder
UK post office scandal may have caused 13 suicides: inquiry
LONDON: Thirteen people caught up in a faulty accounting software scandal at British Post Office branches may have killed themselves and 59 more contemplated doing so, a public inquiry report published Tuesday said. The Post Office wrongfully prosecuted around 1,000 subpostmasters — self-employed branch managers — between 1999 and 2015. Errors in tech giant Fujitsu's Legacy Horizon accounting software incorrectly made it appear that money was missing from their accounts. Many ended up bankrupt after being forced by the Post Office to pay back the missing funds. Some were jailed. Dozens who were later exonerated died without ever seeing their names cleared. Inquiry chair Wyn Williams said that there was a 'real possibility' that 13 people killed themselves as a result of their ordeal. Ten people attempted to take their own lives and 59 contemplated it, the report into the scandal found. Many of the prosecutions took place after questions were raised about the software's reliability. Police are investigating possible fraud committed during the scandal. 'I am satisfied from the evidence that I have heard that a number of senior, and not-so-senior employees of the Post Office knew or, at the very least should have known, that Legacy Horizon was capable of error,' Williams said in the report. 'Yet... the Post Office maintained the fiction that its data was always accurate,' he added. A 'number of senior' people at the Post Office were aware the system was capable of error before it was changed in 2010, he said. Welcoming the findings, former branch manager Jo Hamilton said the report showed 'the full scale of the horror that they unleashed on us'. Williams described the picture of the scandal that had emerged as 'profoundly disturbing'. 'Many thousands of people have suffered serious financial detriment. Many people have inevitably suffered emotional turmoil and significant stress. 'Many businesses and homes have been lost. Bankruptcies have occurred, marriage and families have been wrecked,' he said. Among those who gave evidence to the inquiry was former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells who was quizzed about what she knew and when. Vennells broke down in tears when recalling the case of one man who took his own life after being wrongly accused over a £39,000 ($49,537) shortfall at his branch. The long-running saga hit the headlines after the broadcast in January 2024 of a television drama about the managers' ordeal, which generated a wave of sympathy and outrage. Fujitsu's European director Paul Patterson told a parliamentary committee later that the firm, which assisted the Post Office in prosecutions using flawed data from the software, was 'truly sorry' for 'this appalling miscarriage of justice'. Many of those involved are still battling for compensation. The government's Department for Business and Trade (DBT) said last month that 7,569 claims out of the 11,208 received had now been paid, leaving 3,709 still to be settled. Alan Bates, a former branch manager who led the fight for justice, has said the compensation process has 'turned into quasi-kangaroo courts'. Bates, who was awarded a knighthood by King Charles III for his campaign to highlight the scandal, told the Sunday Times newspaper in May the DBT 'sits in judgement of the claims and alters the goal posts as and when it chooses'. Post Office Minister Gareth Thomas said last month the government had made it a priority to speed up the delivery of compensation since taking office in July 2024.
ABC News
5 days ago
- Business
- ABC News
At least 13 people reportedly died by suicide over UK's Post Office scandal, inquiry finds
Thirteen people may have killed themselves and at least 59 thought about taking their own lives as a result of Britain's Post Office scandal, a public inquiry has revealed this week. The inquiry said hundreds of British Post Office workers were wrongly prosecuted and convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting due to incorrect data in an information technology system called Legacy Horizon, developed by Japanese firm Fujitsu. Many thousands of people have been held responsible wrongly for losses, according to the report. In the 162-page first volume of his report, Inquiry chair Sir Wyn Williams detailed how some people became seriously ill, struggled with mental health problems including alcohol addiction and faced financial impacts such as bankruptcy. He also outlined how some people experienced reputational impacts or died before receiving compensation. The chair noted in the report that "the scale of suffering endured by those claimants was extremely wide-ranging". "It is almost impossible to ascertain, with any degree of accuracy, the number of persons who have suffered as a result of the misplaced reliance upon data produced by Horizon," Sir Wyn said. "I can say, however, with a degree of confidence, that there are currently about 10,000 eligible claimants in the [compensation] schemes providing financial redress and that number is likely to rise at least by hundreds, if not more, over the coming months." Sir Wyn added he was satisfied that "a number of senior or not-so-senior employees" of the state-owned post office knew, or should have known, that Legacy Horizon "was capable of" producing false data, but they maintained that "its data was always accurate". Sir Wyn has also criticised the lack of legal advice available to applicants of the Horizon Shortfall Scheme, which provides compensation to current and former subpostmasters who experienced shortfalls due to the faulty Horizon system. He said anyone claiming compensation through the scheme should be entitled to legal advice funded by the UK Department of Business and Trade. In a statement, Sir Wyn said he expected the British government to provide a written response to his recommendations in the inquiry by October 10. The British Post Office rolled out the Horizon information technology system in 1999 to automate sales accounting. A completely rewritten version of Horizon was introduced in 2010. Soon after the introduction of the original system, called Legacy Horizon in the inquiry, local post office managers began finding unexplained losses that they were responsible to cover. The post office took Fujitsu's side, claiming that Horizon was reliable and that the branch managers were lying. It took three more years for the High Court in London to rule that Horizon contained a number of "bugs, errors and defects", and that the post office "knew there were serious issues about the reliability" of the system. After a failed mediation scheme, more than 500 subpostmasters collectively sued the company in 2015. ABC/wires
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
UK post office scandal may have caused 13 suicides: inquiry
Thirteen people caught up in a faulty accounting software scandal at British Post Office branches may have killed themselves and 59 more contemplated doing so, a public inquiry report published Tuesday said. The Post Office wrongfully prosecuted around 1,000 subpostmasters -- self-employed branch managers -- between 1999 and 2015. Errors in tech giant Fujitsu's Legacy Horizon accounting software incorrectly made it appear that money was missing from their accounts. Many ended up bankrupt after being forced by the Post Office to pay back the missing funds. Some were jailed. Dozens who were later exonerated died without ever seeing their names cleared. Inquiry chair Wyn Williams said that there was a "real possibility" that 13 people killed themselves as a result of their ordeal. Ten people attempted to take their own lives and 59 contemplated it, the report into the scandal found. Many of the prosecutions took place after questions were raised about the software's reliability. Police are investigating possible fraud committed during the scandal. "I am satisfied from the evidence that I have heard that a number of senior, and not-so-senior employees of the Post Office knew or, at the very least should have known, that Legacy Horizon was capable of error," Williams said in the report. "Yet... the Post Office maintained the fiction that its data was always accurate," he added. A "number of senior" people at the Post Office were aware the system was capable of error before it was changed in 2010, he said. - Miscarriage of justice - Welcoming the findings, former branch manager Jo Hamilton said the report showed "the full scale of the horror that they unleashed on us". Williams described the picture of the scandal that had emerged as "profoundly disturbing". "Many thousands of people have suffered serious financial detriment. Many people have inevitably suffered emotional turmoil and significant stress. "Many businesses and homes have been lost. Bankruptcies have occurred, marriage and families have been wrecked," he said. Among those who gave evidence to the inquiry was former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells who was quizzed about what she knew and when. Vennells broke down in tears when recalling the case of one man who took his own life after being wrongly accused over a £39,000 ($49,537) shortfall at his branch. The long-running saga hit the headlines after the broadcast in January 2024 of a television drama about the managers' ordeal, which generated a wave of sympathy and outrage. Fujitsu's European director Paul Patterson told a parliamentary committee later that the firm, which assisted the Post Office in prosecutions using flawed data from the software, was "truly sorry" for "this appalling miscarriage of justice". Many of those involved are still battling for compensation. The government's Department for Business and Trade (DBT) said last month that 7,569 claims out of the 11,208 received had now been paid, leaving 3,709 still to be settled. Alan Bates, a former branch manager who led the fight for justice, has said the compensation process has "turned into quasi-kangaroo courts". Bates, who was awarded a knighthood by King Charles III for his campaign to highlight the scandal, told the Sunday Times newspaper in May the DBT "sits in judgement of the claims and alters the goal posts as and when it chooses". Post Office Minister Gareth Thomas said last month the government had made it a priority to speed up the delivery of compensation since taking office in July 2024. har/jj/fg
Leader Live
5 days ago
- Business
- Leader Live
Government ‘sympathetic' to Post Office inquiry's 19 recommendations
The Government will respond 'properly' to Sir Wyn's recommendations by the inquiry's October 10 deadline, Gareth Thomas pledged at the despatch box. 'I cannot assuage the anger of the victims, nor will the anger I feel on their behalf ever be assuaged,' business minister Mr Thomas told the Commons. 'But we are determined to do more on redress and beyond, and to do it quickly, to give more of the victims of this appalling scandal, at least, a measure of the peace they so rightly deserve.' Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry chairman Sir Wyn published the first volume of his final report on Tuesday. He found a 'number of senior people' at the Post Office were aware the Legacy Horizon system was capable of error up until it was changed in 2010, with several employees also aware the updated system, Horizon Online, also had bugs and defects. Among his 19 recommendations in the report was that the Government and Post Office should make a public announcement about what they mean by 'full and fair redress'. Mr Thomas told MPs: 'Blameless people were impoverished, bankrupted, stressed beyond belief, lost their jobs, their marriages, their reputations, their mental health, in some cases lost their lives.' He added: 'To be clear, I am very sympathetic to Sir Wyn's 19 recommendations today. 'Clearly, a number of them require careful consideration.' Mr Thomas said the Government already accepts a recommendation that the 'best offer principle' should apply where claimants can receive money through the High Court Group Litigation Order (GLO) scheme. Claimants 'should be able to bank the best offer they get', Mr Thomas said, including if they disagree with their award and lodge an appeal with an independent panel. 'We will provide redress for family members of postmasters who suffered because of the scandal,' the minister continued. He said: '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'.' Mr Thomas later said: 'Sir Wyn argues that there should be a standing public body to deliver redress in any further scandal. I have a considerable amount of sympathy with that argument, but clearly we shall need to analyse the options fully before we commit to it. 'We will reflect on how to address those twin challenges, and will bring our conclusions back to the House.' Ian Byrne pressed the Government on Labour's manifesto pledge to bring forward a Hillsborough law, named after the 1989 stadium crush in Sheffield, which would place a legal duty of candour on public servants and authorities and provide legal aid for victims of disasters or state-related deaths. The Labour MP for Liverpool West Derby said: 'The publication of the report confirms the scale – the heartbreaking scale – of the human impact of this shocking miscarriage of justice.' He warned that the Post Office scandal 'follows a familiar pattern, where institutions deceive and distort because they put their reputations before truth and justice'. Mr Byrne, who has proposed his own Hillsborough law, having tabled the Public Authority (Accountability) Bill, asked: 'Does the minister agree that this report again shows why the Government must honour its pledge and promise to enact the Hillsborough law in full, and end this culture of cover-ups which does so much damage to the innocent victims' families and this country's reputation?' Mr Thomas replied: 'We need to see in full who was responsible for this disaster and why. 'Sir Wyn Williams's work in this regard is critical. We are awaiting his final report which will look at what happened and why it happened, and who was responsible, and that transparency will be hugely important in terms of helping the Post Office to learn the lessons from this appalling scandal, but for also the country as a whole to learn the lessons from the scandal. 'And if there are measures that we need to bring forward to make sure the Post Office is never in a position like this again, then we will certainly look to bring those forwards.' Conservative former minister Sir Andrew Mitchell said 'many' of his colleagues had raised Horizon redress 'for years' and added: 'It took the ITV drama of January 1 2024 (Mr Bates vs The Post Office) for the earth to move, which rather begs the question, what is the point of Parliament and its elected representatives?' He also asked: 'Isn't it about time that the institutions of the state got out the handcuffs and held the tax-funded villains who perpetrated this monstrous injustice to full and total account?' Mr Thomas said: 'Sir Wyn's further report will lay bare who is responsible, that and the work of the police. 'Their work is ongoing. There are 100 police officers working on this case. They are in touch with subpostmaster representatives and they have identified a series of people who are of interest to their inquiry.'
South Wales Guardian
5 days ago
- Business
- South Wales Guardian
Government ‘sympathetic' to Post Office inquiry's 19 recommendations
The Government will respond 'properly' to Sir Wyn's recommendations by the inquiry's October 10 deadline, Gareth Thomas pledged at the despatch box. 'I cannot assuage the anger of the victims, nor will the anger I feel on their behalf ever be assuaged,' business minister Mr Thomas told the Commons. 'But we are determined to do more on redress and beyond, and to do it quickly, to give more of the victims of this appalling scandal, at least, a measure of the peace they so rightly deserve.' Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry chairman Sir Wyn published the first volume of his final report on Tuesday. He found a 'number of senior people' at the Post Office were aware the Legacy Horizon system was capable of error up until it was changed in 2010, with several employees also aware the updated system, Horizon Online, also had bugs and defects. Among his 19 recommendations in the report was that the Government and Post Office should make a public announcement about what they mean by 'full and fair redress'. Mr Thomas told MPs: 'Blameless people were impoverished, bankrupted, stressed beyond belief, lost their jobs, their marriages, their reputations, their mental health, in some cases lost their lives.' He added: 'To be clear, I am very sympathetic to Sir Wyn's 19 recommendations today. 'Clearly, a number of them require careful consideration.' Mr Thomas said the Government already accepts a recommendation that the 'best offer principle' should apply where claimants can receive money through the High Court Group Litigation Order (GLO) scheme. Claimants 'should be able to bank the best offer they get', Mr Thomas said, including if they disagree with their award and lodge an appeal with an independent panel. 'We will provide redress for family members of postmasters who suffered because of the scandal,' the minister continued. He said: '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'.' Mr Thomas later said: 'Sir Wyn argues that there should be a standing public body to deliver redress in any further scandal. I have a considerable amount of sympathy with that argument, but clearly we shall need to analyse the options fully before we commit to it. 'We will reflect on how to address those twin challenges, and will bring our conclusions back to the House.' Ian Byrne pressed the Government on Labour's manifesto pledge to bring forward a Hillsborough law, named after the 1989 stadium crush in Sheffield, which would place a legal duty of candour on public servants and authorities and provide legal aid for victims of disasters or state-related deaths. The Labour MP for Liverpool West Derby said: 'The publication of the report confirms the scale – the heartbreaking scale – of the human impact of this shocking miscarriage of justice.' He warned that the Post Office scandal 'follows a familiar pattern, where institutions deceive and distort because they put their reputations before truth and justice'. Mr Byrne, who has proposed his own Hillsborough law, having tabled the Public Authority (Accountability) Bill, asked: 'Does the minister agree that this report again shows why the Government must honour its pledge and promise to enact the Hillsborough law in full, and end this culture of cover-ups which does so much damage to the innocent victims' families and this country's reputation?' Mr Thomas replied: 'We need to see in full who was responsible for this disaster and why. 'Sir Wyn Williams's work in this regard is critical. We are awaiting his final report which will look at what happened and why it happened, and who was responsible, and that transparency will be hugely important in terms of helping the Post Office to learn the lessons from this appalling scandal, but for also the country as a whole to learn the lessons from the scandal. 'And if there are measures that we need to bring forward to make sure the Post Office is never in a position like this again, then we will certainly look to bring those forwards.' Conservative former minister Sir Andrew Mitchell said 'many' of his colleagues had raised Horizon redress 'for years' and added: 'It took the ITV drama of January 1 2024 (Mr Bates vs The Post Office) for the earth to move, which rather begs the question, what is the point of Parliament and its elected representatives?' He also asked: 'Isn't it about time that the institutions of the state got out the handcuffs and held the tax-funded villains who perpetrated this monstrous injustice to full and total account?' Mr Thomas said: 'Sir Wyn's further report will lay bare who is responsible, that and the work of the police. 'Their work is ongoing. There are 100 police officers working on this case. They are in touch with subpostmaster representatives and they have identified a series of people who are of interest to their inquiry.'
