On Tuesday 16th January there was a Select Committee hearing that summoned Fujitsu CEO of Europe Paul Patterson and Post Office Ltd CEO Nick Read to answer questions.  Then we had Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom and Neil Hudgell who represents a large portion of Postmasters in every group of the compensation schemes.  We also heard from Alan Bates and Jo Hamilton as part of the JFSA (Justice for Sub Postmasters Alliance) 555 cohort and also Minister for Postal Affairs Kevin Hollinrake.  

You can watch the hearing in full below :- https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/0c8ac4f9-95da-48ba-bc4a-fa3c1d7c6bd7

There are some contrasting views about the mass exoneration of the outstanding convictions but with the sheer numbers involved there seems to be no alternative.  We cannot wait many more years for the judicial system to catch up and that is even if we can get everyone of those affected to come forward.  It has been described by the Lord Arbuthnot and Minister Hollinrake as the lesser of two evils, I think whichever side you are on this needs to be resolved and quickly.  It is hoped the legislation will be ready in weeks and it can pass through the House of Commons and then the Lords at a speedy pace, which in turn will open up access to compensation for those people.  

Fujitsu CEO Mr Patterson appeared to offer regret in the way people had been treated as a result of some of the actions of Fujitsu and its employees.  He also blew the lid on how long bugs, errors and defects have been known in the system.  We have known about them from the beginning and we assisted Post Office in the prosecution of Postmasters and for that we are truly sorry he uttered.  He went on to say that Fujitsu had a moral obligation to contribute towards the cost of compensation but wouldn't be drawn as to the amount until the level of blame had been attributed from the public inquiry which is not expected to report until sometime in 2025.  Today in the public inquiry Mr Patterson was present again and he reiterated the intentions of Fujitsu to both meet affected Postmasters and contribute to compensation.  It was refreshing to see true contrition and a willingness to answer questions to the best of his knowledge without suffering from the amnesia illness that most Post Office employees suffer from, can only think there must be something in the water at both Chesterfield and Finsbury Dials HQ, although it could also be a sewage problem, but I won't get into that discussion!  You can see Mr Patterson's evidence to the inquiry here:-

https://youtu.be/srYlXW2UdwQ?si=BED1DCzb686wknv8

I understand the Minister is doing his level best on this and has also spoken out about this scandal from the back benches.  He also spoke about how all compensation schemes have problems when you look at the banking scandals and others.  However the reason these schemes fail is because of the way they are designed at the outset.  They are deliberately designed by expensive lawyers at high profile law firms to make the process as difficult as possible, avoid admitting liability and ensure payouts are kept to an absolute minimum.  If we committed to setting up schemes that were truly independent, ran by an external Arms Length Body and chaired by a High Court Judge with the ability for established legal principle and previous High Court awards to be followed these schemes would not have a high failure rate.  The original aim to save money by minimising payouts always ends up as false economy because the aggressive tactics employed by the lawyers ends up dragging out the process and then legal and operational costs spiralling out of control.  Years down the line when it is corrected after a review of a review and a truly independent scheme is created the victims get paid out what they should have received years earlier, plus interest.  Add on top the new legal and operational costs and the total amount of the scandals ends up being 3-4 times what it would have cost had they just created the Independent Body in the first place and paid out full and fair compensation.

We are seeing this right before our eyes all over again, the HSS scheme has settled 80% of the 2500 original applicants yet we know that those will be revisited or reviewed in some way in the coming months.  The original principles and design of the scheme were flawed.  We are far too reactive to these things instead of being proactive in the original approach.  Probably a discussion for another day but the overall government machine is fundamentally broken when it comes to righting scandals.  We need a change of approach but as I say, one battle at a time.  Any change will not assist the current Postmasters caught up in this scandal and we must focus on full and fair compensation and then ultimately accountability.  I did a quick podcast with LBC News on Wednesday talking about the flaws in the compensation schemes, it isn't all great as the Minister and government PR spin makes it sound.  Have a listen to me talking to Martin Stanford about it :-

https://www.globalplayer.com/catchup/lbcnews/uk/episodes/2zGyc6FP9PsPH4v7CzGKaJUoEe/?t=6682

It is about time the victims of this scandal were put first for change, do what was promised and put them back in the position they would have been in had the scandal not happened which must include damages for the impact it has had on them and their families.  Any less means that Post Office and government have misled victims, parliament and the public.