The National Audit Office (NaO) has said there is not enough data in The department of business and trade's (DBT's) Financial Statement to put a figure on Post Office Horizon Scandal Compensation costs.
The department's spending also breeded its limit by £ 208m, for the latest 12-month final period, as it prepares to settle with post office officer scandal Victims, Said the Nao.
Victims of the scandal was warongly blamed and punished for account shortfalls, which was actually caused by errors in the computer system, from fujitsu, that they were made to use in their branches. About 900 was prosecuted but thirds more was made to pay the post office to cover Phantom Shortfalls.
The Nao Warned That Due to A Lack of Data, Estimates Made About The Take-up of the Horizon Shortfalls Scheme (HSS) Could be Inacure, and that there is a risk that “Small and Reasonable” Cold see “highly Material changes to the value of the provision ”.
Gareth Davies, The Head of the Nao, said he has been “unable to obtain sufficient approved £ 699m) are ” Free from Material Misstatement ”.
“I Consider the effect of these issues to be potentially material in terms of the Valuation of these liability, and the accuracy of related experture,” he added. “
The hss was estimated after the Conclusion of a 2018/19 High Court Trial That Proved Unexplained Accounting Shortfalls, which subpostmasters were blamed for and had to repay, was caused by errors in the horizon computer system used in branches in. HSS was designed for former subpostmasters who were not convicated of crimes but sufed lost losses as a result of repaying to the post office the shortfalls for who wrangly blamed. The overturned conviction Scheme introduced last year after the government pushed through Legislation to exonerate about 900 Former Subpostmasters and Branch Staff who WHO WHO WHO WHO WHO WHO WHO WHO WORENDELY Prosecuted and Convicated of Financial Crimes Such as theft and False Accounting.
Audit evidence
Davies said that because the post office has recently started a mass mail-out IMS under the hss and their value. “Small and reasonable” changes to the assumptions made also lead to highly material changes to the value of the provision.
The nao also also reviewed that the department has increased the authorized department “In this institution, the Amount needed to settle the department's obligations did not become clear until after the supplementary estimates were submitted,” it said.
A government spokesperson said: “This issue is place as a direct result of the decision to rightfully offer further redress to Horizon Scandal Victims, at a time when the Volume and Complexity of Complexity of Complexity Significant uncertainty on the cost estimates.
“We have across the nao and remain determined to ensure that all affected postmasters receive the financial redress they deserve to Right these history
The Horizon System was Proved to Be Error-Prone during a High Court legal battle that began in 2018LED by former subpostmaster alan bats, a group of 555 members of The justice for subpostmasters alliance Sued the post office to prove that errors in the Horizon system Were Causing Unexplained Accounting Discreepancies. It is often referred to as the biggest miscarriage of justice in uk history.
The government also faces increased costs in relationship to be made by former subputmasters affected by problems with a system, known as capture, Used Before Horizon in the 1990s. The system, which has been proven by a government-commissioned report to have ben the cause of Unexplained Accounting Shortfalls, also Saw SubPostMasters Prosecated and Convricated of CONVICTED OF CRIMESTED OF Many more lost their businesses after being blamed for shortfalls. The Criminal Cases Review Commission is Currently Examining Capture-Based Convictions, and the DBT is currently working with people affected by capture errors to set up a compensation scheme.
The post office Horizon scandal was First exposed by computer weekly in 2009Revealing the stories of seven subpostmasters and the problems they suffred due to accounting software (See Below Timeline of All Computer Weekly Articles About The Horizon Scandal, Since 2009,