The government has agreed to pay the bill for the compensation for the former Post Office workers who were falsely convicted of theft in the Post Office Horizon scandal.

This decision was confirmed in a statement by the government after the Post Office confirmed it is unable to cover the compensation for the Postmasters.

Between 2000 and 2014, the Post Office prosecuted 736 postmasters based on information from the computer system called Horizon.

72 postmaster’s convictions have since been overturned, and more are expected in the future.

Post Office told to ‘compensate stores now’ – Better Retailing

Postal affairs minister Paul Scully confirmed the government was aware of the “impact that problems with the Post Office’s Horizon IT system have had on the lives and livelihoods of many postmasters.”

Scully added, “the Government is making funding available to facilitate Post Office to make final compensation payments to postmasters whose convictions have been overturned.

“By providing this funding, Government is helping Post Office deliver the fair compensation postmasters deserve.”

The government will work with the Post Office to finalise the arrangement to enable the final settlement negotiations to begin as soon as possible.

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