Letter: Victims cheated by the Treasury

The figure of 1.5 billion in compensation was a cynical leak by the Treasury, two days after the Public Administration Select Committee published its report recommending that the coalition government should focus on how to meet the political commitment it has made to accept all findings of maladministration made by the Parliamentary Ombudsman (PO).

The Chadwick Report and recommendations to which he refers was commissioned by the previous government and has been condemned by the PO as an unsafe and unsound basis upon which to proceed.

The true figure of relative loss is probably in the order of 6bn and the committee recommended that the government ask its accountants, Towers Watson, to recalculate their estimate (previously 4bn-4.8bn) in line with the PO's full findings.

However, the Treasury, which was largely responsible for the original maladministration, seems to have its own agenda and in leaking the 1.5bn figure seeks to compare it with the pittance suggested by Chadwick, as if this had never been condemned.

How can the government condemn benefit cheats when its own Treasury is attempting to cheat the PO, the PASC and the victims of its maladministration?

Donald Scott, regional coordinator, East of Scotland, Equitable Members Action Group