IT company behind Post Office scandal yet to pay any compensation

More than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongfully convicted of stealing between 1999 and 2015 after failures linked to a faulty IT system.

Fujitsu supplied the faulty Horizon software to the UK Post Office, which led to branch operators being wrongly prosecuted over discrepancies in their business accounts.

The Post Office itself took many cases to court, prosecuting 700 people between 1999 and 2015.

READ MORE: Town house neighbouring the famous ‘Headington Shark’ up for £600k

Varchas Patel’s father, Vipin, who ran the Horspath Post Office for five years, was charged with stealing £34,000 from the Post Office and convicted of fraud. (Image: Varchas Patel/Twitter)

In 2017, a group of 555 sub-postmasters took legal action in a landmark court case against the Post Office.

In 2019, the Post Office agreed to pay the group.

The scandal described as the worst miscarriage of justice in British history, was the subject of the ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office

The Government is continuing to allow Fujitsu to bid for contract, despite subpostmasters waiting for compensation payout following the scandal, and the company admitting they knew the system was faulty.

Marriages broke down, and some families believe the stress led to serious health conditions, addiction and even premature death.

It is thought that more than 13 people may have taken their own lives as a result.

The tech company has not yet contributed towards the £1.5bn compensation bill for the victims, instead the taxpayers have footed the bill so far.

As of September 2025, a total of £1.23bn had been awarded to more than 9,100 sub-postmasters, but none by Fujitsu itself.

Sir Alan Bates spearheaded the campaign for justice (Image: House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire)

Multiple Oxfordshire subpostmasters were hit by the scandal, and the son of a an Oxford postmaster previously spoke to the Oxford Mail about the scandal.

Varchas Patel’s father, Vipin, who ran the Horspath Post Office for five years, was charged with stealing £34,000 from the Post Office and convicted of fraud.

He was given an 18-week suspended prison sentence in 2011 with an electronic tag for two months.

His total Horizon generated losses amount to £77,000 – potentially more – and he had to cash in his Royal Mail pension, sell his wife’s family heirlooms consisting of wedding gold Mrs Patel was passed down over three generation and borrow money from his sister to cover profound discrepancies.

But he was blameless, with the ‘missing’ funds actually the result of an error in the Horizon IT software. 

Mr Patel’s conviction was quashed by Southwark Crown Court in 2020.

Balvinder Gill who ran the Post Office in Cowley Road was also bankrupted trying to repay £108,000 the Post Office said he stole.

His mother Kashmir, who worked at the same branch, was found guilty of stealing £57,000 in 2009.

Her conviction was overturned by the Court of Appeal in 2021.