HUNDREDS of thousands of Australians forced to pay back welfare debts by an automated system won the largest pay out in the country’s history today.

The scheme, known as “Robedebt,” which impacted about 440,000 people and ran from 2016 to 2019, mistakenly told welfare benefits claimants that they had been overpaid and demanded repayments that often never existed.

A class action, brought in 2020, resulted in a A$1.8 billion (£876 million) settlement for victims of the scheme.

But the lawyers for the claimants appealed for more money after new evidence revealed officials of the then Liberal-led coalition government knew the scheme was “unlawful,” but still continued.

The current Labour government said today that it would settle that claim and agreed to hand over an extra A$475m (£231m) for the harm caused by the “illegal and immoral Robodebt scheme.”

The government also agreed to pay A$13.5m (£6.55m) in legal costs.

Attorney general Michelle Rowland said the government’s action “is just the just and fair thing to do,” given the harm caused by the “disastrous” scheme.

One of the victims, Felicity Button, told reporters it was a bittersweet moment, as some victims had lost family members, gone through divorce or become bankrupt.