Teesside postmistress calls for compensation immediately to all affected
A deadline was set last month for the Government to take action by the end of this year
Last updated 1st May 2025
A postmistress in Teesside is calling for everyone affected by the Horizon IT scandal to be compensated immediately.
It comes as Sir Alan Bates gave a deadline last month for the Government to take action by tomorrow - or else legal action will be pursued for a second time.
Sue Edgar, postmistress in Guisborough, said: "I'm OK if I'm honest. But there are a high number that are still waiting for even an offer, nevermind being paid the money. And the victims are still waiting five years after the court case, when they decided that they would be paying compensation.
"16,000 letters have been sent out to both past and present postmasters and supposedly another 9,000 is going out by the end of January. So there's no way it's going to be finished this year for a start. But lots have not had a letter and those that have replied still haven't been paid out.
"Without the compensation scheme, the impact all of this has had has been horrendous. There are so many that apparently have had nervous breakdowns and worse.
"The compensation scheme to me is not taking into account the mental part of this. The mental health of a lot of our members is so high and the Post Office says all these words, it's the action we need. We need this compensation to be paid to all the victims immediately, not this dribs and drabs.
"The ball is in their court to recompense all these postmasters that are waiting and waiting and waiting, and they aren't doing it quickly enough. They're just taking their time and you know they've had all these years to look at this and they've ignored it and ignored it. And these are people we trusted at that time. We could never trust anything they say again."
A government spokesperson said: "This government has taken significant steps to increase the speed of redress payments and will continue to listen to subpostmasters about what they need from the schemes.
"Since July we have taken swift action to launch the new Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme and announced a new appeals process in the Horizon Shortfall Scheme in order to give postmasters the chance to have their settlements independently reviewed.
"At the end of October, approximately £438m has been paid to over 3,100 claimants across four schemes, up 85% since the end of June.
"We are also making 90% of initial GLO offers within 40 working days of receiving completed claims and we encourage the 186 people who have not yet sent us complete claims to come forward as soon as possible to claim back what they are owed."