In January this year, the story suddenly exploded into the political debate when the TV channel ITV broadcast the drama series “Mr Bates vs The Post Office,” which portrayed the history of the sub-postmasters who had their lives ruined by the IT scandal. The TV series sparked huge media and public pressure, which led to debate and a parliamentary inquiry, with strong measures from politicians.
In March, a new law was passed with the aim of overturning all convictions. A huge program of compensation payments is planned, where convicted sub-postmasters are each offered £600,000 ($760,000), while others that were affected in other ways — such as those who paid out of their own pockets to cover the discrepancies reported by the IT system – will also be compensated.
According to British politicians, there could be as much as £1 billion ($1.27 billion) paid out in total.
