MPs say the Post Office should be removed from its role in dealing with compensation schemes for victims of the Horizon scandal.
A report by the Business and Trade Select Committee said payments were not being distributed quickly enough.
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Figures show that only £499m of the £1.8bn budgeted has been paid so far.
Committee Chairman Liam Byrne said the organization had lost its grip on the situation.
“What the Post Office is telling us is that they are trying to ensure that people get what they are entitled to, but the bottom line is that people are now dying before they get justice, and the process is very slow,” he said.
“So we believe the Post Office has lost its grip on this matter, but we do not believe the Post Office is the appropriate organization to run any of these schemes.
“That's why we say the post office should be taken out of the system completely.”
MPs also raised concerns about fees being paid to the legal teams at the heart of the redress schemes.
Legal fees have accounted for £136 million of the cost of running Post Office-led schemes since 2020 – 27% of the actual compensation paid.
A Post Office spokesman said last night: “Working alongside the Government, we are focused on paying compensation as quickly as possible.”
