Victims of a second scandal at the Post Office have waited more than 30 years to be compensated for wrongful prosecutions and lost livelihoods linked to IT faults – but are still waiting for the Treasury to sign payments off.
A compensation scheme for sub-postmasters believed to have lost money while using Capture – a basic Post Office accounting system rolled out to branches in the 1990s before the notorious Horizon programme – has finally been agreed with the Government.
But victims continue to wait for the green light from the Treasury before they can make claims or apply for an interim “recognition” payment of up to £10,000, despite warning that “time is our enemy” with some now in their 80s. Some victims have died before seeing justice.
In a precursor to the Horizon scandal, Capture was prone to bugs and faults but sub-postmasters were forced to hand over money, sacked and in some cases criminally prosecuted by the Post Office for accounting errors.
As a result of a long-running investigation by The i Paper last year, the Government ordered an independent review of the Capture system which found sub-postmasters were likely to have suffered unexplained losses because of the software.
The Capture software was rolled out to Post Office branches starting in 1992The Department for Business and Trade has since met with victims who have been told that they will receive redress and last week set out the form and scope of the Capture scheme, which is separate to the £1billion set aside for Horizon victims.
While sub-postmasters will have to submit individual claims for compensation which will be set against a banding system, the Government intends to offer an initial “recognition” payment of up to £10,000 in the interim.
The scheme has been agreed but is awaiting the “final step” of approval in Whitehall, The i Paper understands.
Steve Marston, 69, was convicted of theft and accounting offences in a Post Office prosecution in 1998 despite having insisted he “never stole a penny”.
square POST OFFICE SCANDAL 'My mum was destroyed by second Post Office scandal - we can't wait years for justice'
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He was at the meeting with DBT officials in London and said: “I did impress on them again that time is our enemy.
“We have one person from the Capture cohort in hospital with pneumonia and another in his 80s with cancer.”
It also hoped that the first of 28 criminal convictions with links to Capture evidence, currently being reviewed by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), could be put before the Court of Appeal as soon as the autumn.
“It’s vital to get convictions overturned,” Mr Marston said.
At the meeting, Capture victims were assured the Government will agree “whatever figures are necessary” to make sure they are properly compensated.
“There shouldn’t be any difference to Horizon payments,” Mr Marston added.
“I think they intend it to be a lot more streamlined. And where people don’t have much evidence they are going to take the word of the postmaster.”
Steve Marston was prosecuted by the Post Office in 1998 (Photo: Tom Pilston/The i Paper)Capture was first rolled out in 1992 and is thought to have been used in at least 2,500 Post Office branches.
The software was developed in-house by the Post Office but documents shared with The i Paper last year showed the IT team repeatedly sent out bulletins admitting bugs which could cause accounting errors.
Nevertheless, the Post Office investigations unit chose to hold sub-postmasters responsible for losses and pursue them in both the civil and criminal courts.
A Freedom of Information request showed the Post Office carried out more than 200 private prosecutions in the three years after Capture was introduced.
A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson said: “Postmasters have already endured immeasurable suffering, and we continue to listen to those who have been sharing their stories on the Capture system. Ensuring postmasters are treated with dignity and respect is our absolute priority.
“Officials met with postmasters as part of our commitment to develop an effective and fair redress process for those affected by Capture.
“We will continue to update on the development of the redress mechanism as it progresses.”
A CCRC spokesperson said: “We have considered the cases included in the Kroll report and are reviewing two of these where there were criminal convictions in England and Wales in which Capture appears to have been a factor.
“We are currently reviewing a further 26 cases to determine whether Capture played a part in the convictions.
“We continue to liaise with the Department for Business and Trade and the Post Office to identify other cases in which Capture could have played a part.
“Reviewing criminal cases dating back several decades can be particularly challenging for a number of reasons, including the scant documentation that remains available. However, we would encourage anyone who believes that their criminal conviction, or that of a relative, might have been affected by the Capture system to make contact with us.”
Former sub-postmistress June Tooby and her husband Ken, before her death in 2020In March, the Post Office issued a landmark apology to a Capture victim’s family, its first apology related to the faulty IT system.
It sent a letter to the widower of June Tooby, a former sub-postmistress who spent decades battling the Post Office over money that auditors claimed was missing from her branch in the North East. The i Paper first covered her story in February last year.
In the letter, the Post Office admitted for the first time that there were “significant failings” in Capture. Simon Recaldin, director of the Remediation Unit at the Post Office, told Ken Tooby: “I am writing to apologise sincerely and unreservedly to you, on behalf of the company and myself.
“It is clear through the efforts of former Postmasters and their families that there were significant failings at the Post Office relating to Capture.”
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