Between 1999 and 2015 hundreds of sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted after the faulty Horizon IT accounting system made it look like money was missing from branch accounts.
Sir Alan, portrayed in a ITV drama which thrust the scandal back into the spotlight earlier this year, leads the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance and was giving evidence to a parliamentary committee on Tuesday.
The hearing is considering fast and fair redress for victims of the Post Office scandal and a key point for Sir Alan, which he has made before, is that the government needs to set deadlines for compensation to be paid.
He told MPs he had twice written to the prime minister in the past month to say “it needs to be finished by the end of March 2025”.
A No10 spokesman said the PM responded to Sir Alan earlier on Tuesday, and added the government is committed to getting quick redress for victims, but is wary of setting an “arbitrary cut-off” date that could see some claimants miss out.
“We want redress as quickly as possible,” he said. “What we don’t want to do is set an absolute cut-off date which would result in some claimants missing the deadline.
“But each postmaster eligible should receive substantial redress by the end of March.”
Campaigners have criticised the amount of time it is taking for those affected to receive compensation. Many sub-postmasters were wrongly sent to prison for false accounting and theft, and several more were financially ruined. Some have died waiting for justice.
The PM’s spokesperson said as of 31 October, approximately £438m had been paid to more than 3,100 claimants across the four compensation schemes.
