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• Tue May 27 2025

Alan Bates' 'kangaroo court' claims denied

15 hours ago Share Save Lucy Hooker Business reporter Share Save

Photo by ANDY RAIN/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Compensation for sub-postmasters is not being decided by a "kangaroo court", the body overseeing the payouts has said, pushing back against allegations made by Sir Alan Bates. Sir Alan, who led the campaign for justice, said he had been made a "take it or leave it" offer that was less than half the amount he was claiming. The "goal posts" had moved and claims had been "knocked back", he said, in ways he saw as unfair to sub-postmasters, many of whom have been waiting years for redress. However, the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board has rejected his criticism, saying it was following a process agreed by Sir Alan, designed to resolve the outstanding cases.

Writing in the Sunday Times, Sir Alan had suggested the process was not following established standards, describing it as a "quasi-kangaroo court". The board, made up of parliamentarians and academics, issued a statement on Tuesday saying: "We do not agree [with the criticisms]." It said Sir Alan had been "closely involved" in setting up the process for deciding compensation, which included a final assessment from a "highly respected" judge. "That was what happened in Sir Alan's case," the board said. "It is only a 'take it or leave it' decision in the sense that at some stage the matter has to come to an end and someone has to decide, in order to bring fair closure to so many who have been harmed."