A Cabinet minister admitted there is a risk of subpostmasters being wrongfully exonerated and being granted compensation under the Government’s plan to quash all convictions relating to the Post Office scandal. 

Claire Coutinho, the Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary, said the Government had to look at the “trade-offs” and that “overall” the mass exoneration was appropriate because of the number of innocent people who need justice.

Subpostmasters will have to sign a document saying they are innocent to get their £600,000 compensation, though any who are later found to have been guilty can be prosecuted for fraud.

Ms Coutinho was asked during an interview on Times Radio this morning if she was comfortable with the potential prospect of a small number of people who did actually commit crimes being cleared and handed compensation. 

She said: “We have been very open that there is a risk that a small amount of people who did commit fraud might be wrongfully exonerated. 

“But I think overall it is really important that we look at the trade-offs and see that there is a huge number of people who need to have justice and actually we have been open that there is a small risk there but actually we think that overall we need to get people justice as quickly as possible.”

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