Former Cambridgeshire sub-postmistress labels compensation plans as 'slap in the face'
The scheme aims to help those who haven't been convicted
A former sub-postmistress in Cambridgeshire has said new plans to compensate victims of the Horizon IT scandal don't help their fight for justice.
The government's agreed to give £75,000 to postmasters who haven't been convicted but made good the apparent losses caused by the faulty software from their own pockets.
Downing Street said the fixed sum will be awarded through the Horizon Shortfall Scheme.
Those who have already settled for less money will have their compensation topped up to this level, while people can choose to have their claims assessed as part of the usual scheme process.
"It's a slap in the face"
Jenny O'Dell worked at a post office in Great Staughton near St Neots when in 2010, her account was closed after being wrongly accused of stealing almost £10,000.
She has refused to accept an extra £50,000 on top of what she's already received in compensation.
"That doesn't come near to the loss of earnings that I've had," she said.
"It's a slap in the face again; when you think that people have been paid millions to do this to us, and we're offered £75,000, it's laughable.
"For 15 years of my life, I've had (to go through) this; some of them (victims) have had even longer than I have but those who were convicted, they've been offered something separately but it's nothing near what they deserve."
What is the new law?
A new law, called the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill, aims to quash the wrongful convictions of sub-postmasters caught up in the Horizon IT scandal.
The Bill will exonerate those convicted in England and Wales on the basis of faulty Horizon accounting software.
More than 700 subpostmasters were prosecuted by the Post Office and handed criminal convictions between 1999 and 2015 as Fujitsu’s faulty Horizon IT system made it appear as though money was missing at their branches.
"I'm finding life extremely difficult"
Jenny said she is finding it tough to cope with life after her career with the Post Office:
"Those that have inflicted this need to be brought to justice; we're fed up with it," she added.
"I'm finding life extremely difficult, more so because my husband's so ill; words do not cover what I feel like."