Issue #6

For many people, saying “sorry” is not the hard part. Acting on it is.

Over the past five months, we’ve traced a costly pattern in the UK Post Office scandal: truth ignored, silence enforced, power misused, systems protecting themselves, and accountability reduced to appearances. Now we come to the most painful part: a reckoning that lasted 27 years and counting.

As of early 2026, more than £1 billion has been paid out to victims across various compensation schemes. Hundreds of wrongful convictions have been overturned. Many sub-postmasters who were once branded criminals have had their names cleared.

And yet…

Taxpayers have paid all the compensation. Fujitsu, despite acknowledging a “moral obligation”, has paid nothing. It continues to win large UK government IT contracts. No Post Office or Fujitsu executive has faced criminal consequences.

Meanwhile, hundreds of claims remain unresolved. Some victims are still waiting for final compensation years after their convictions were quashed. For the families of the 13 people who took their own lives, a compensation scheme was only announced in March 2026. That has been nearly 30 years in the making.

Why the delay?

Governments and institutions worry about overpaying, fake claims, or setting costly trends. So they build careful processes. They verify and review each step.

On paper, this sounds responsible.

In reality, it becomes harm.

While institutions are being careful, victims are still paying the price. They’ve lost homes, reputations, and years of their lives. Some will never see full restoration in their lifetime.

That’s not caution. That’s damage control.

Scripture offers a striking contrast.

When Zacchaeus encountered Jesus, he didn’t form a committee or design a process. He stood up and said, “Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount” (Luke 19:8).

It was immediate. It was generous. It was costly.

That’s repentance.

Not words. Not optics. Action.

Institutional repentance requires the same. It demands courage to act quickly, even when the process is imperfect. And humility to put the needs of the harmed above the institution’s own fears and reputation.

Responsibility delayed is still responsibility avoided. Institutions that wait for certainty before acting generously are still, at their core, protecting themselves.

So how should a faithful steward respond?

Ask:

• Are we prioritizing a perfect process over urgent human needs?
• Are we penalizing people because we fear mistakes, rather than acting to restore justice?
• Are our timelines designed to bring closure or to protect us from risk?
• What can we do today, before everything is resolved, to signal that victims matter more than our reputation?

Act:

• Fast-track compensation, even accepting minor errors as the cost of justice.
• Set clear timelines and commit to them openly. 
• Provide interim support that reflects empathy, not just obligation.
• Communicate progress to victims directly, not through press releases.

Model:

True repentance is generous, visible, and urgent. It takes the risk rather than passing it down to those already harmed. So let your response to failure show your organization what you actually value.

These questions are hard to answer alone. Kingdom Factor Cohorts (KFCs) are confidential spaces where Christian business leaders wrestle with exactly these tensions together. If you’d like to know more, contact me with the message “KFC”.

(Read the entire UK Post Office Scandal series here.)