A government minister has said more than 2,000 new compensation claims have been made in the past month by people who believe they too are victims of a Post Office scandal.
Post Office Minister Gareth Thomas told BBC Newsnight The new claims came after the Post Office contacted former sub-postmasters who may have been affected but had not yet applied for compensation.
Many of the more than 4,000 original claimants are still waiting for compensation to be paid, including 92-year-old Betty Brown, who told the BBC the government needed to “get it done”.
Thomas said the compensation process is becoming faster, making it “less legalistic, less adversarial.”
Mrs Brown told the program on Monday that she had so far been offered less than a third of what she had claimed in compensation.
“We waited and waited. Time is running out. We’re getting old,” he said. “Do it.”
She added that she wanted a “fair and just hearing”.
Mrs Brown and her husband spent more than £50,000 of their savings to cover money that was missing from their branch in County Durham due to faulty Horizon software.
He was fired and forced to sell his post office in 2003.
Thomas said he was “keen to find a solution” and would meet with her and another former sub-postmaster, Shazia Siddique, who told Newsnight she was only offered 10 percent of her claim. .
Ms Siddique ran three post offices in Newcastle upon Tyne but “lost everything” and had to move away from the area where she lived after being attacked in the street.
Former sub-postmasters spoke to Newsnight after an ITV drama highlighted the scandal.
Earlier this month, Parliament’s Business and Trade Select Committee called for changes to the way compensation is delivered due to ongoing delays.
Thomas said he was “happy to say” that more victims were coming forward and that the government was considering immediate remedial measures.
He said compensation payments had doubled in the past six months and the government was trying to make compensation schemes “less legalistic, less adversarial”.
He added that claimants could opt for a £75,000 lump sum payment and avoid a lengthy assessment process, which would help claims be processed faster.