Former Post Office sub-postmistress Janet Skinner has accused the Government of waging "damn-right war" on victims of the Horizon IT scandal, claiming they are creating a "bigger problem" than the one that already exists.Sir Alan Bates has claimed the Government is "shortchanging victims" in its compensation scheme, calling it a "kangaroo court".FULL STORY HERE.
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00:00Now, Sir Alan Bates is accusing the post office of short-changing victims in its compensation scheme.
00:06Yes, writing in today's Sunday Times, Mr Bates called it a kangaroo court,
00:11saying he was given a take-it-or-leave-it offer amounting to less than half of his original claim.
00:17Well, it follows a years-long battle to fight for compensation after 900 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted
00:23due to a faulty Horizon accounting system making it look like money was missing from their accounts.
00:28Well, joining me now is the former post office sub-mistress, Janet Skinner.
00:35Janet, thanks so much for being with us this afternoon.
00:38What exactly is the deal that sub-postmasters and post-mistresses are being offered here?
00:45I think the deal is on an individual basis.
00:49So each individual claim is assessed differently.
00:52And, I mean, although we were all part of the 555 originally, we're also represented by individual legal representation.
01:02But they are offering quite small amounts.
01:07And I think what they're also doing is, especially with my case individually,
01:12I received 14 pages of questions to answer.
01:15Right. So it's almost as if they've accepted that what they had done in the past was wrong,
01:22but are now making you work even more in order to get any sort of compensation at all.
01:29I mean, that doesn't sound like it's a particular form of compensation when they're making you fill out these onerous forms.
01:35I mean, do tell us a bit about your own personal case here.
01:39How much did the post office, did the government, frankly, go after you originally?
01:45Well, mine, I mean, 59,000 mine back in 2006.
01:50I was imprisoned in 2007.
01:53I was looking at imprisonment again in 2008.
01:57I became ill 10 days after the case had finished, had concluded,
02:02and I ended up paralysed from the neck down.
02:05I was actually told I would never walk again.
02:07And it's just an ongoing process.
02:10It's not this isn't full and fair address schemes.
02:14This is just a literally damn right war against each individual person.
02:19And the questions that they're actual issuing to each individual claimant is a reduction.
02:25It's how much they can reduce that claim by and how much money they can save for themselves.
02:31No, I mean, it does sound like an incredibly stressful period after the amount of torment and stress that you and so many other sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses have been through.
02:42Yeah, I mean, I have to say, Tom, what they're doing is people think that they've accepted some form of accountability, and they actually haven't, or else they wouldn't be treating the victims the way that they are.
02:55They are victimizing victims that have already gone through an immense amount of pressure, stress, relationships, deaths.
03:06And all they're doing is creating an even bigger problem.
03:11So you're going to end up with a scandal on top of a scandal.
03:13Janet, I just wonder, obviously, what the government is trying to do here is to individualize the payments to each individual sub-postmistress or sub-postmaster.
03:25In your case, you ended up in prison, tens of thousands of pounds that they were claiming.
03:31There are some, of course, who did not go to prison, who paid back money, who got into debt.
03:34Every case, I suppose, is different.
03:36Would the government be arguing that the form they're sending out is to try and give different amounts to different people?
03:46Because, of course, some people will have suffered more and some people will have suffered less.
03:50I suppose it would be fair to have individualized compensation claims.
03:56It's fair to have individual, and each individual case has to be assessed individually.
04:00Because, like you say, there is some people that haven't suffered anywhere near others, but there's people whose claims it's not an actual form that they send you out to actually fill in.
04:11It's what it is.
04:12Your case is built by your legal team, by assessors, accounting, psychology reports.
04:23I mean, for me, I've had five medical reports.
04:26It's taken them two years to actually say that what happened to me physically was a result of stress caused by what they did.
04:35Two years of fighting that for them to then turn around and say, there you go, there's 14 pages of questions I need you to answer.
04:42The government are well aware, and there was a very strong advocate, the Labour government, before they took power.
04:50And it seems that since they've been in power, they've not assisted us in any way.
04:55I think a lot of people at home will be frankly shocked that after all the media furore, after everything that happened, people still are waiting for that compensation.
05:04Janet Skinner, thanks so much for talking to us.
05:07And I really do hope that you get the compensation you so clearly deserve much, much faster than the process is currently moving at.