Hi Everyone,
It has been a long time since I sent out an update. I am afraid the fight is still continuing for so many within this scandal.
However tonight is a very important time for this scandal, ITV will start the 1st of 4 episodes of the drama called Mr Bates vs The Post Office. It will be on ITV 1 tonight from 9pm and then again on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th at the same time. On Thursday 4th following the final episode of the drama there will be a documentary called Mr Bates vs The Post Office - The Real Story. What we all must remember when watching this is that this is a real story, about real lives. It is also available now in full on ITVX if you don't want to wait each night for the next episode.
Unfortunately the compensation is still an issue for the vast majority of people, the offers coming forward are no where near the losses people have suffered. The promises have been that the government and Post Office will restore people back to the position had the scandal not happened, the reality on the ground looks very different. Last week I received the 1st complex offer from the GLO scheme (the scheme setup for the original 555 who took the Post Office to court). The offer was less than 15% of the headline claim submitted to the scheme, not really worth the paper it was written on. The department stated in the offer letter, 'we hope you find this offer fair & reasonable'. That was the biggest joke that came out of the Christmas crackers this week. Nick Wallis covered this in his secret email newsletter yesterday which you can see below :-
Compensation concerns
It pains me to report that applicants to the GLO compensation scheme (this is the scheme for the 490-odd GLO claimants who don't have criminal convictions to quash) appear to be receiving small offers relative to their losses and the hurt they have suffered.
Chris Head is a former Subpostmaster and campaigner who has gone out of his way to be helpful, reasonable and collaborative whilst dealing with the government, the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board, the media and his local MP Kate Osborne.
He has also worked tirelessly to help and advise other Subpostmasters.
Chris has just had the government's first response to his compensation claim on the GLO scheme. It is less than 15% of the headline figure he claimed for. Chris has posted a series of tweets about this so you read here https://x.com/chrish9070/status/1741458760319561743?s=20
Anyway I hope you can tune in to watch the drama series and the documentary and if you can find the time please do write to your MP to express your concern that people are still fighting hard not only for redress but for accountability of those at the heart of this scandal.
Wishing you all a very Happy New Year.