Victims of a second IT scandal at the Post Office will be able to apply for interim compensation payouts expected to be around £10,000 within weeks.
It comes after an investigation by The i Paper found dozens of former sub-postmasters claimed they had lost money and, in some cases, were wrongly prosecuted while using a piece of software called Capture.
Capture was rolled out in the 1990s before the notorious Horizon computer system, which was linked to more than 900 wrongful prosecutions carried out by the Post Office.
Officials at the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) met with victims and their legal representatives in Whitehall on Wednesday.
Steve Marston, 69, who pleaded guilty to theft and false accounting offences in 1998 despite insisting he never stole “a penny” was among those who attended.
He told The i Paper: “Things are looking very positive.”
A new compensation scheme is expected to open this autumn, though officials have yet to commit to a specific date.
A batch of around 150 Capture victims will be invited to apply first as a pilot before it is expanded more widely.
Compensation payouts are expected to be set against a banding system depending on what the sub-postmaster experienced, as has happened with Horizon scandal cases.
Some of those claims have run beyond £1million and Capture victims are likely to be looking for similar amounts.
Steve Marston, centre, and other former sub-postmasters meeting Government officials about the Capture scandal (Photo: Tom Pilston/The i Paper)DBT officials have also promised interim payouts of around £10,000 in ‘recognition’ of what sub-postmasters, many of whom are now elderly, have been through.
“They are saying as soon as people have passed the bar of proving that they were in the Post Office and had Capture then they will make the initial payment,” Mr Marston added.
Capture campaigners remain concerned however about how those with criminal convictions will be treated.
They will not be able to apply for compensation until they are overturned.
The case of Patricia Owen, a sub-postmistress who was prosecuted in 1998 for supposedly stealing just £2,000 from her branch in Kent, is the first Capture case to be referred to the Court of Appeal.
Ms Owen, who died in 2003, always maintained her innocence and believed the computer system was to blame for her accounting shortfalls.
She even instructed IT expert Adrian Montagu who agreed Capture was capable of producing “gibberish” – but her barrister never called him to give evidence.
Ms Owen’s daughter Juliet Shardlow wants to see her mum’s name cleared and is awaiting a court date for her case to be heard.
The Capture software was rolled out to Post Office branches starting in 1992The Government commissioned an independent review into Capture following a number of claims it was linked to further miscarrages of justice last year.
Investigators Kroll concluded the software was capable of faults and there was a “reasonable likelihood” these caused accounting problems.
Post Office Minister Gareth Thomas said previously: “We are committed to delivering fair and swift redress for all postmasters affected by Post Office software failures as part of our Plan for Change.”
A Post Office spokesperson said: “While it is not appropriate for us to comment on specific cases, we have been very concerned about the reported problems relating to the use of the Capture software and we are sincerely sorry for past failings that have caused suffering to postmasters.
“We are determined that past wrongs are put right and continue to support the Government’s work in this area as well as fully co-operate with the Criminal Cases Review Commission.”
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