By bizn_fun 
In Dec 2024, Betty was originally offered just under a third of what she’d claimed for in compensation. That was gradually upped to 70% earlier this year, which she rejected. Her case was then escalated to an independent panel.
There were two main sticking points.
Firstly, the Post Office knocked 10% off the income she’d been making when she was running her branch, which had a big impact on the calculation for her future loss of earnings.
And then it downgraded her claim for psychological damages from severe to moderately severe, even though her medical report had concluded it was severe.
Betty took up the opportunity to address the panel, an experience she said felt like reliving the past.
“The emotions, the fear, the terror was all coming back,” she said.
The panel found in her favour.
By then, Betty had already dropped a couple of incidental claims for business costs, because she didn’t have any paperwork and the lack of evidence was being challenged by the government
She has now ended up with about 95% of what she originally claimed for – and Betty is happy with that.
The latest government figures up until the end of September, which don’t include Betty’s payout, show that of 492 eligible claimants, 385 have had their claims fully settled – with more than 100 people still waiting for their final payment.
Across all the government compensation schemes, £1.2bn has now been paid out to more than 9,100 victims.
“This is a redress scheme,” Betty stressed. “They’ve only given us back what they took from us. We haven’t had a penny in compensation.”
Over the last two years, that’s the message Betty has been putting across as she’s become one of the most formidable campaigners for justice for former sub-postmasters.
She has appeared on BBC Breakfast, Newsnight and taken government ministers to task.
Betty celebrated with tea and cake at her local church coffee morning. She got a round of applause and some hugs as she broke the news of her final payout.
Mrs Brown also made it clear that she was not finished.
“I don’t want to put my feet up,” she said. “I just want the other sub-postmasters to have what I have been given. That’s all I want – justice for every one of them.”