Sir Alan Bates, the former sub-postmaster whose determination exposed the Post Office Horizon scandal, has received a multi-million-pound settlement from the UK government.
Confirmed on 4 November 2025, the payout marks a decisive moment in one of Britain's biggest miscarriages of justice — a case that shook public trust in national institutions and led to criminal convictions being overturned.
According to Sky News, Bates described the government's initial offer earlier this year as a 'take it or leave it' deal, which reportedly amounted to just 49.2% of his original claim. After months of negotiation, he has now accepted a settlement believed to be between 4 million and 5 million.
Bates first raised concerns in 2009, uncovering critical flaws in the Horizon IT system, built by Fujitsu and used by the Post Office to track accounts.
Between 1999 and 2015, more than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted for theft, fraud, and false accounting because of data errors in the software.
In response, Bates founded the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA), leading a collective campaign that forced the issue into Parliament and the courts.
His efforts culminated in a 2019 High Court judgment that found the Horizon system unreliable and the Post Office's actions 'oppressive and unfair.'
A spokesperson for the Department for Business and Trade confirmed the agreement, stating: 'We pay tribute to Sir Alan...
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