Between 1999 and 2015, hundreds of sub-postmasters and postmistresses were wrongly prosecuted after a faulty computer system called Horizon made it look like money was missing from their branches.
Monday marked the start of the final week of evidence at the inquiry into the scandal, more than two and a half years since it started hearing evidence in public.
Badenoch said the four-part ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which went out in January, raised awareness of the issue, turning compensation from “a value for money perception to a public perception question”.
She insisted work was being done on the issue by the previous government, but admitted it was “too slow” and criticised the whole “government machine” for slowing down compensation.
The inquiry heard how Badenoch told the Treasury she wanted to give £100,000 “flat offers” to all sub-postmasters with a claim, with the inquiry to the counsel Jason Beer KC describing her mention of “ministerial direction” as a threat.
He said this could be seen as “soft power” or “posturing”.
But Badenoch denied the claim, saying: “It was signalling the direction I wanted the department to take to make it very clear.”
She said she believed speed should triumph over accuracy, and admitted that this might not have represented value for money from a taxpayer point of view.
Credit: Source link
