The Post Office should be removed from involvement in the Horizon scandal compensation processes, a committee of MPs has demanded while piling further pressure on its chief executive.
The Business and Trade Committee published recommendations for delivering faster and fuller payments to the hundreds of victims, describing efforts to deliver redress to date as an “abject failure”.
Chairman Liam Byrne said it was a “national disgrace” that “only £1 in £5 of the budget for compensation has been issued” to sub-postmasters and legally-binding timetables were needed to restore urgency and confidence.
The committee said an independent body should be appointed to lead the process.
Its report stated the Post Office was “not fit for purpose to administer any of the schemes required to make amends”.
Money latest: Two big salary groups lose more than they gain
It blamed both victims’ lack of confidence in the firm and its “chaotic” leadership.
In reply, the Post Office said it would have “no objection” to the role being relinquished.
The MPs’ determinations were partly linked to a separate war of words playing out over conduct at the government-owned company.
The focus on the sub-postmaster victims shifted last week when former Post Office chairman Henry Staunton, sacked by the business secretary in January, told the committee that an investigation believed to have focused on his own conduct was actually concentrated on chief executive Nick Read.
A letter by Mr Staunton to the committee, and released by the MPs, alleged that Mr Read was facing claims of bullying and sexism by a senior member of staff.
