Post Office Horizon: Redress

Gareth Thomas Excerpts

Monday 3rd March 2025 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Gareth Thomas)]

The delivery of redress for victims of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal is a key manifesto commitment for this Government. As part of our commitment, I have been actively considering whether the Department for Business and Trade should take on responsibility for the redress schemes currently managed by the Post Office. This is something that postmasters, campaigners and parliamentarians, including the Business and Trade Select Committee, have called for.

I am today announcing that the Department’s Horizon convictions redress scheme (HCRS) will broaden its scope and take on responsibility for redress for postmasters who have had their convictions overturned by the courts.

There will be a three-month transition period to allow for the smooth transfer of active claims from one scheme to the other. At the end of May 2025, claims for redress under the Post Office’s overturned convictions scheme will be transferred into the HCRS and the Post Office will cease to be involved in the administration of redress for overturned convictions. From Tuesday 3 June, all existing and new overturned convictions claims will be processed by the Department for Business and Trade.

There will be no gap in service for postmasters who have claims in the system. During the transition period, the Post Office will continue to actively progress claims towards settlement. The Department is already working with the Post Office to ensure that the transfer process is as smooth as possible for individuals and will work with them and their legal representatives throughout the process. Our intention is for a seamless transition for existing claims.

The assessment framework for HCRS was deliberately aligned with the principles for decision in the overturned convictions scheme to ensure fairness of outcome across the two schemes. All postmasters can therefore expect consistency of treatment between the HCRS and overturned convictions schemes.

In advance of 3 June, I encourage all those eligible to apply for redress under the overturned convictions scheme to continue to engage with the Post Office, which is committed to continuing to process existing claims swiftly until the transfer date.

As I have previously indicated, I am considering whether responsibility for delivering the Horizon shortfall scheme should also be transferred to the Department. I will make a separate statement about that in due course. We have already committed to running the Horizon shortfall scheme appeals process within the Department, rather than allowing it to be run by the Post Office.

[HCWS483]