I am furious afresh about the unfairness of the Horizon Post Office scandal. Two things have reawakened my fury: a powerful new play on the scandal, and the Tax Policy Associates analysis of the appalling ‘compensation’ scheme. The quote marks are meant to indicate that the scheme is not worthy of the term compensation.
I’ve written about the substance of the scandal before, in Unfair trials: justice in the dock. In brief, the UK Post Office launched a new IT system, Horizon, created by Fujitsu, which was not fit for purpose and riddled with bugs. Once problems occurred, the organisations preferred to take Post Office workers to court for theft and fraud rather than admit there was any possibility of failings by Horizon. Once it became undeniable that there were such problems, they preferred to lie and continue to put people in prison and ruin lives in other ways, than do the fair thing and reverse out of the situation. The Tax Policy Associates work indicates that they still don’t want to be driven by fairness and do the right things by the victims, but instead continue to act first to protect the Post Office itself.
But to start with the play, False Accounts from the Outcasts Creative was both a satirically funny and powerfully emotional event. I personally found the humour a little uneven but it was probably a necessary leavening to the intensity of the emotion generated by a strong and impassioned cast.
The performance I enjoyed was made all the more powerful by having individuals in the audience directly affected by the scandal. The scale of their personal anger was clear – on occasions they were unable to stay silent. And their tears at the suicide scene were much more copious than mine, affecting as it was.
There’s a moment in the script where the cast invites the audience to think how ordinary the victims of the scandal were, that they might be the people sitting alongside us. For me that moment was among the most powerful as it was literally true. I’m pleased that I managed to encourage my neighbour to join the cast on stage after the show for due applause and recognition.
False Accounts has a further short run at the Upstairs at the Gatehouse Theatre in North London from June 20th and is highly recommended. It provides a great first insight into the scandal as well as bringing to life its emotional realities for those who already know the story. I can’t guarantee that you too will be joined by those directly affected but it’s certainly true that it’s possible your neighbour in the theatre may also have been a victim.
Meanwhile, in his latest Tax Policy Associates work, Dan Neidle outlines Eight reasons what the Post Office compensation scheme is a scandal. I’ve previously referenced Neidle’s consistently excellent work in the tax space (see Tax shouldn’t be a choice). This latest is slightly tangential to his core skillset but maintains his usual quality of analysis.
His conclusion is blunt and focused on fairness, both of process and outcome:
“the Post Office has adopted a strategy to minimise compensation… It does that by minimising the initial claim postmasters are making. The Post Office can then point to all the procedures in place to ensure claims are handled fairly – but the unfairness happened right at the start.”
In his typically detailed and forensic way, Neidle sets out how the so-called Historic Shortfall Scheme – ironically – falls short of fairness. Essentially, this is through an over-complex application process that diverts attention from some forms of compensation that victims are due, and on which legal advice is discouraged. In effect, the Post Office seems to be exploiting the lack of skill and knowledge of its victims and Neidle is reporting the authors of this process to the Solicitors Regulation Authority. As in the original scandal, the Post Office lawyers appear to be riding roughshod over the rule of law – fairness, in other words – in what amounts to a further scandal.
It represents something further to be put right, and something that infuriates in the meantime.
See also: Unfair trials: justice in the dock
False Accounts by Lance S A Nielsen
To be performed at: Upstairs at the Gatehouse, June 20th-25th
Eight reasons why the Post Office compensation scheme is a scandal, Dan Neidle, Tax Policy Associates
The Sense of Fairness blog 