"If an organisation has performed so badly for its customers that it has become a national scandal and warranted its own TV drama, surely it's time the government spent its money elsewhere," Megawarne said.
The Post Office made a confidential deal with Fujitsu 19 years ago to fix errors in subpostmasters' accounts, a document has revealed. The 2006 agreement suggests both companies were aware of bugs in the Horizon IT system, with Fujitsu liable for a 100-150 "liquidated damages" penalty per faulty transaction. The document indicates the Post Office and Fujitsu had authorisation to alter accounts, despite claims it was not possible to do so remotely and that there were no bugs in the system.
All victims of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal seeking compensation will now be entitled to free legal advice, the government has announced. The change could potentially have a major effect on the size of the payouts some victims are able to achieve. It is one of a number of improvements to the compensation schemes available to victims, made in response to the first report from the public inquiry into the scandal, widely described as one of the UK's worst ever miscarriages of justice.
The inquiry chairman, retired judge Sir Wyn Williams, stated, "At least 59 people contemplated suicide at various points in time and attributed this to their experiences with Horizon and/or the Post Office."
