Saved Living Expenses

A year ago yesterday we published our views on the deduction of “saved living expenses” from compensation paid to the victims of miscarriage of justice – or at least to those very few such victims as are actually compensated for their years of wrongful imprisonment. We noted that, in light of a public outcry following the Andy Malkinson case, the Lord Chancellor had announced the immediate cessation of this outrageous practice. We expressed the hope that those earlier miscarriage of justice victims whose compensation had been thus reduced would have this money returned to them, with interest and without delay.

We wrote to the Lord Chancellor on 8th August last year, immediately following on his announcement, seeking clarification of his position on this.

A year later, we have a new Government. The previous Lord Chancellor has remained silent on the issue of those previously penalised by the discredited practice, an issue raised not only by us but by many, many others. We have ourselves received no response to our letter.

The new Government has now spoken. The deduction of these sums will not be reversed for those on whom it was imposed. Paymaster General Nick Thomas-Symonds has said it is a “standard approach” that changes to government policy do not apply retrospectively.

“Whenever you change policy there’s going to end up being a cut off point in it,” he told the BBC Today programme, on Radio 4, this morning.

He went on to say “but it is absolutely crucial that people do have the chance to rebuild their lives and that’s exactly what this government is committed to.”

We have difficulty reconciling that remark with the decision he seeks to defend, just as we cannot reconcile that decision with the previous assurance, uttered by the previous Lord Chancellor in August last year, that fairness should be “a core pillar of our justice system and it is not right that victims of devastating miscarriages of justice can have deductions made for saved living expenses”.

This disgraceful decision simply heaps injustice on injustice.

Our earlier article can be found HERE.

A copy of our letter to the Lord Chancellor can be found HERE.

Paddy Hill’s statement of 8th August 2013 can be found HERE.