Select Committees
Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (since January 2020)Administration Committee (since March 2020)
Finance Committee (Commons) (since March 2021)
Speaker's Conference (since October 2022)
Shared Parental Leave and Pay (Bereavement) Bill (since March 2024)
Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Bill (since March 2024)
1 APPG membership (as of 8 Apr 2024)
Financial Education for Young People29 Former APPG memberships
Alternative Lending, Autism, Boys' Brigade, Cancer, Carers, Child Maintenance Services, Cyber Security, Deafness, Fairs and Showgrounds, Food Banks, Future of Employability, Global Education, Italy, Lithuania, Malawi, Oracy, Poland, Post Offices, Rare, Genetic and Undiagnosed Conditions, Skills and Employment, State Pension Inequality for Women, Steel and Metal Related Industries, Stem Cell Transplantation and Advanced Cellular Therapies, Terminal Illness, Thalidomide, Tibet, Unconscious Bias, United Nations Women, Vascular and Venous DiseaseDivision Voting information
Debates during the 2019 Parliament
Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
Sparring Partners
Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
(28 debate interactions)
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
(22 debate interactions)
(16 debate interactions)
Department Debates
(66 debate contributions)
(54 debate contributions)
(48 debate contributions)
(46 debate contributions)
Legislation Debates
(1,880 words contributed)
(1,641 words contributed)
(1,448 words contributed)
(1,389 words contributed)
Motherwell and Wishaw Petitions
e-Petitions are administered by Parliament and allow members of the public to express support for a particular issue.
If an e-petition reaches 10,000 signatures the Government will issue a written response.
If an e-petition reaches 100,000 signatures the petition becomes eligible for a Parliamentary debate (usually Monday 4.30pm in Westminster Hall).
of 8,381 signatures (1.19%)
of 25,909 signatures (0.46%)
of 56,260 signatures (0.20%)
of 103,505 signatures (0.20%)
of 71,544 signatures (0.16%)
of 200,428 signatures (0.12%)
of 103,505 signatures (0.20%)
of 25,909 signatures (0.46%)
of 56,260 signatures (0.20%)
of 71,544 signatures (0.16%)
Petition Closed
End reviews of PIP and ESA awards for people with lifelong illnesses
Gov Responded - 10 Sep 2021 Debated on - 4 Sep 2023 View Marion Fellows's petition debate contributionsclosed 2 years, 2 months ago
People with a lifelong illness should not be subject to regular reviews for eligibility for the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) or Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). People suffering lifelong conditions should not have to prove they are still ill every couple of years.
Petition Closed
End assessments and consider disability benefit claims on medical advice alone
Gov Responded - 21 Dec 2022 Debated on - 4 Sep 2023 View Marion Fellows's petition debate contributionsclosed 1 year, 3 months ago
The Government should remove the requirement for people claiming disability benefits, such as the Personal Independence Payment (PIP), to have to go through an assessment process. Claims should be based solely on evidence from medical professionals, such as a letter from a GP or consultant.
Petition Closed
Full review of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) application process
Gov Responded - 1 Nov 2022 Debated on - 4 Sep 2023 View Marion Fellows's petition debate contributionsclosed 1 year, 2 months ago
We want the Government to conduct a full review of the PIP process. This should look at DWP policy and the performance of ATOS and Capita, which conduct the health assessments for applicants. We believe the current process is inherently unethical and biased, and needs a complete overhaul.
Petition Closed
Provide an energy grant to people with a disability or serious medical condition
Gov Responded - 14 Jun 2022 Debated on - 22 May 2023 View Marion Fellows's petition debate contributionsclosed 1 year, 7 months ago
Millions of UK citizens have a disability or serious medical condition that means they use more energy. Many people need to use a ventilator 24/7. People use electric pumps to feed through a tubes. People need to charge their mobility equipment, such as electric wheelchairs, stair lifts, bath seats.
Petition Closed
Make people on disability benefits eligible for the £650 one off payment.
Gov Responded - 11 Oct 2022 Debated on - 22 May 2023 View Marion Fellows's petition debate contributionsclosed 1 year, 4 months ago
Disabled people should be included alongside carers in the £650 one off payment as part of the Cost of Living support package. We have larger utilities bills and food costs when compared to non-disabled people. We rely on these utilities and food to stay alive.
Petition Closed
Protect free NHS prescriptions for over 60s
Gov Responded - 28 Jan 2022 Debated on - 6 Mar 2023 View Marion Fellows's petition debate contributionsclosed 2 years, 2 months ago
Continue to give free NHS prescriptions to over 60s. The Government is consulting on aligning the upper age exemption for NHS prescription charges with the State Pension age (SPA), which would render many people in their 60s ineligible.
Petition Closed
Waive visa requirement for Ukrainian refugees.
Gov Responded - 6 Apr 2022 Debated on - 14 Mar 2022 View Marion Fellows's petition debate contributionsclosed 1 year, 7 months ago
Join other nations in providing a route to safety for refugees. Waive all visa requirements for Ukrainian passport holders arriving in the UK.
Latest EDMs signed by Marion Fellows
Referral of matters of 21 February 2024 to the Committee of Privileges
Tabled by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)That this House notes the Speaker’s decision on selection and calling of amendments on 21 February 2024 was not in accordance with the established precedent for Opposition days; and accordingly considers that, notwithstanding the Resolution of this House of 6 February 1978, the matter of whether undue pressure was placed …
(Most recent: 19 Apr 2024)
Signatures by party:
Scottish National Party: 42
Conservative: 25
Independent: 3
Plaid Cymru: 1
Pay for Royal Fleet Auxiliary Seafarers
Tabled by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)That this House pays tribute to the commitment and dedication of the 1,700 civilian seafarers, including trainees, at the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA); is concerned that nearly fifteen years of pay restraint is having a negative effect on recruitment, retention, training and industrial relations in the RFA; notes that inflation …
(Most recent: 19 Apr 2024)
Signatures by party:
Labour: 19
Scottish National Party: 9
Liberal Democrat: 2
Independent: 1
Democratic Unionist Party: 1
Alba Party: 1
Alliance: 1
Commons initiatives
These initiatives were driven by Marion Fellows, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
MPs who are act as Ministers or Shadow Ministers are generally restricted from performing Commons initiatives other than Urgent Questions.
2 Urgent Questions tabled by Marion Fellows
Marion Fellows has not been granted any Adjournment Debates
3 Bills introduced by Marion Fellows
A Bill to require the Secretary of State to publish proposals for a social tariff for energy.
Friday 14th June 2024
Order Paper number: 5
(Possibly be Debated)
A Bill to require the Secretary of State to publish proposals for a social tariff for energy.
Monday 11th December 2023
The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress. A Bill to remove certain fees for child maintenance services; to make provision about the calculation of child maintenance payments; and for connected purposes.
11 Bills co-sponsored by Marion Fellows
State Pension Age (Compensation) Bill 2023-24
Sponsor - Alan Brown (SNP)
Autism (early identification) Bill 2023-24
Sponsor - Duncan Baker (Con)
Scottish Law Officers (Devolution) Bill 2023-24
Sponsor - Joanna Cherry (SNP)
Employment Equality (Insurance etc) Bill 2022-23
Sponsor - Natalie Elphicke (Con)
Banking and postal services (rural areas) Bill 2022-23
Sponsor - Drew Hendry (SNP)
Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Bill 2021-22
Sponsor - Patricia Gibson (SNP)
Tibet (Reciprocal Access) Bill 2019-21
Sponsor - Tim Loughton (Con)
Banking Services (Post Offices) Bill 2019-21
Sponsor - Duncan Baker (Con)
Tibet (Reciprocal Access) Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Tim Loughton (Con)
Breast Cancer Screening (Women Under 40) Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Andrew Griffiths (Con)
Public Sector Supply Chains (Project Bank Accounts) Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Debbie Abrahams (Lab)
Latest 50 Written Questions
(View all written questions)4 Other Department Questions
Climate action must be inclusive of people with disabilities and support their rights. This means ensuring that information and services are accessible, challenging social norms that create barriers to access and disaggregating data by gender, age and disability. People with disabilities must be involved in climate action at all levels and engagement with, and capacity building of, disabled people’s organisations on climate issues is essential.
Through our focus on adaptation for COP26, we are encouraging the international community to do more to drive effective delivery of adaptation action on the ground, including through implementation of the Principles for Locally-led Adaptation. These Principles provide a framework for ensuring that those most impacted by climate change - including people with disabilities, indigenous people, women and youth - are empowered to plan for and protect their own futures.
We are committed to championing inclusivity throughout our COP26 Presidency. This is why there is a dedicated COP26 civil society engagement team that works with NGOs and rights groups, including those from the disability community, who have established an official led disability working group that meets regularly, to help guide our preparation for delivering a disability inclusive summit.
COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The protections of the Equality Act 2010 do not extend to manufacturing, so there is no exemption to remove. The Act’s protections, including for disability, are extensive. Service providers have an anticipatory duty to make reasonable adjustments, including ensuring their facilities and products are accessible to disabled people who wish to use them. What is reasonable will depend on the specific circumstances of the case and will be determined by such factors as practicality, cost and the extent to which people with disabilities are likely to want to use the service.
President of the Board of Trade
Disabled people are offered internships with Members of Parliament as part of the Speaker’s Parliamentary Placement Scheme. There are thirteen places on this Scheme and at least three of these places are ringfenced for disabled people. However, in reality more than three places are offered to disabled people each year.
This placement scheme opens up Parliament to talented individuals who would not have access to the traditional routes into Westminster by providing them with a nine-month paid internship in a Member’s office. At the outset of the expansion of the scheme in 2018 to include disabled people, the House worked closely with Disability Rights UK to ensure that the scheme was inclusive for disabled people.
An accessibility plan is developed for each disabled intern to ensure that they are supported whilst on the programme. All interns are supported by their Member who is their line manager and the Member’s office manager. They are given pastoral support by the House Service as well as a buddy.
Political parties are responsible for their candidate selection and should lead the way in improving diverse representation, including from people with disabilities, at General Elections.
Successive recent UK Governments have helped in this process. An Access to Elected Office Fund ran on a pilot basis from 2012 to 2015, and was followed by the EnAble Fund launched in 2018 as an interim measure to allow political parties time to put in place more support. We welcome the positive steps taken by some political parties to support their disabled candidates and encourage all parties to embrace this approach.
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The freedoms and protections that we all enjoy rely on the rule of law. This is an important constitutional principle which demands: equality under the law; access to independent and impartial justice; government subject to the law; law that is clear and certain.
The duty of the Law Officers is to give the Government full and frank legal advice, and to ensure the Government acts in full knowledge of the legal position. I take that responsibility seriously, and will continue to do so.
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon Lady’s Parliamentary Question of 30th March is attached.
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster made a statement under section 19(1)(a) of the Human Rights Act 1998 regarding the provisions of the European Union (Future Relationship) Bill. This Bill, now Act, implements the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. Further to this, relevant requirements of the Equality Act 2010 and other relevant legislation have been followed.
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster made a statement under section 19(1)(a) of the Human Rights Act 1998 regarding the provisions of the European Union (Future Relationship) Bill. This Bill, now Act, implements the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. Further to this, relevant requirements of the Equality Act 2010 and other relevant legislation have been followed.
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to PQ 99016 on 08 October 2020.
Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government Digital Service (GDS) is testing websites in accordance with the Accessibility Regulation.
GDS is encouraging organisations to engage with them to increase the accessibility of their websites for users.
GDS will periodically publish information about their monitoring. GDS will also, on behalf of the Minister for Cabinet Office, publish a list of websites with non-compliant accessibility statements.
Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government Digital Service (GDS) is testing websites in accordance with the Accessibility Regulation.
GDS is encouraging organisations to engage with them to increase the accessibility of their websites for users.
GDS will periodically publish information about their monitoring. GDS will also, on behalf of the Minister for Cabinet Office, publish a list of websites with non-compliant accessibility statements.
Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by Justin Tomlinson MP on 10 September 2020.
Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Cabinet Office has a target of responding within 20 working days where a response is required.
As you will understand, the Cabinet Office is currently dealing with unprecedented volumes of correspondence due to COVID-19. Officials are ensuring that urgent cases raised by hon. Members are prioritised, and are taking steps to provide substantive responses in as short a time as possible.
All correspondence received from hon. Members is being reviewed and will be responded to as soon as possible.
We are not currently aware of any section 104 orders which would be needed to overturn convictions in Scotland.
Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill was introduced to the House of Commons on 13 March. With the will of both Houses of Parliament, the Government’s intention is that the Bill receives Royal Assent as soon as possible before Summer Recess. Convictions in scope will be quashed on Royal Assent.
Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This is a HR matter for Post Office Ltd as the Department does not hold this information.
Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
As Chair of the Construction Leadership Council, our Skills Plan has enabled the construction sector to compete and attract new recruits. In fact, the number of apprenticeships increased to over 32,000 last year. The Government has also ensured the sector has the flexibility to recruit workers from overseas to supply demand.
Apprenticeships and traineeships are a matter for the Department for Education.
Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
I hold meetings with the Post Office CEO on a monthly basis where we discuss the topic of Horizon compensation delivery.
Postmasters who paid shortfalls which were recorded in Horizon to the Post Office are paid those amounts back in their compensation claims, as well as any other financial and personal damage which they have suffered as a consequence of the IT system.
Government has made funding available for both the Horizon Shortfall Scheme and for Overturned Convictions compensation. Post Office has published its provisions for both in its annual accounts and Government has published the level of funding available on the Subsidy Transparency Database.
Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is an economic growth department that will support British businesses to invest, grow and export, creating jobs and prosperity across the UK; such health assessments fall outside its remit.
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Government has robust mechanisms in place to maintain oversight of Post Office Limited and regularly engages with the company on various live issues, including Post Office Limited’s approach to Drop and Collect. For example, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State attends monthly meetings with Post Office Limited’s CEO and officials attend quarterly shareholder meetings between the Department and Post Office Limited.
Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Energy Bills Discount Scheme provides all eligible businesses and other non-domestic energy users with a baseline discount on high energy bills for 12 months from April 2023 until 31 March 2024.
A higher level of support will be provided to some Energy and Trade Intensive Industries (ETIIs) for 70% of their energy. Industries eligible for this support include certain meat and fish processing businesses.
A full list of eligible industries is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-bills-discount-scheme-factsheet/energy-bills-discount-scheme-energy-and-trade-intense-industries-assessment-methodology#annex-a-list-of-eligible-sectors-for-energy-and-trade-intensive-industries
Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
25 Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Questions
(View all Marion Fellows's BEIS questions)The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill and the powers within it are not intended to remove workers’ rights and protections. The Bill is an enabling Act. The key measures, including the powers to preserve, revoke or replace, will provide UK (and devolved) ministers with the tools to review, amend or repeal their retained EU law in a way that is right for the UK and reflects the UK’s new regulatory freedoms.
Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The fuel poverty target is to ensure that as many fuels poor homes as is reasonably practicable achieve a minimum energy efficiency rating of Band C, by 2030. Its aim is to target energy efficiency support to low-income households.
The 2030 target does not include estimates of energy costs including what the energy costs will be for disabled people.
Progress against the target is reported on in the annual fuel poverty statistics, which can be found https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fuel-poverty-statistics.
Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Ofgem require energy suppliers to support disabled customers. This includes protection from disconnection during the winter, and the provision of additional support through a Priority Services Register. Ofgem monitors compliance with their rules protecting vulnerable consumers. Their most recent report is available at: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2021-10/Ofgem%20Consumer%20Protection%20Report%20Autumn%202021_Final.pdf.
Under the Warm Home Discount scheme, Ofgem provides a breakdown in their annual reports of the Industry Initiatives supporting fuel poor and vulnerable households through measures that include benefit entitlement checks and debt write-off. The 2020-2021 report is available at: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/warm-home-discount-annual-report-scheme-year-10.
Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The current Energy Company Obligation scheme, ECO4, has been designed to focus support on households with the lowest incomes and alleviate fuel poverty. This will include households with disabled people on the lowest incomes. The scheme is designed to improve the energy efficiency of homes, through the installation of insulation or heating measures. Households benefitting from improvements could save an average of £300 per annum.
Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Post Office secured an extension for the filing of its Annual Report and Accounts for FY20/21 to 31 March 2022. I understand Post Office expect to publish their Accounts shortly.
The Government started working on its follow-up report to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2016 inquiry earlier this year. The flexible working consultation referred to in the report was published on 23 September and ran for 10 weeks until 1 December, receiving over 1,600 responses. The Government is now analysing these responses and will issue its response in due course.
While Post Office Limited is publicly owned, it operates as an independent, commercial business. Therefore, details regarding the length of time Post Office branches have been closed in (i) Scotland, (ii) Wales, (iii) Northern Ireland and (iv) each region of England as of 12 November 2021, are an operational matter for Post Office Limited.
POL operates the largest and most dispersed retail network in the UK, with more than 11,500 branches offering a portfolio of services across: mails & parcels, cash & banking, financial services, identity and telecoms markets.
Apart from during the pandemic when agreed waivers were in place, since 2013/14 Post Office has consistently met the access criteria and remains committed to meeting the access criteria and minimum branch numbers.
There are a range of legal protections which could be engaged where it is difficult for an employee to return to work as a result of an underlying health condition. But the law does not distinguish specifically between particular health conditions.
An immunocompromised person may be considered to have a disability and benefit from protections under the Equality Act which include the duty on an employer to make reasonable adjustments. A disability under the Equality Act is defined as a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities. A reasonable adjustment can include letting someone work somewhere else.
The Post Office network has been incredibly resilient during the pandemic, with over 90% of branches remaining open throughout. The Government continues to work with Post Office to monitor the network closely.
The Government is committed to a UK-wide network of post offices, which is why we have set the national access criteria. These criteria, for instance, require that nationally, ninety per cent (90%) of the UK population are within one mile of the nearest Post Office Branch and that nationally, ninety-nine per cent (99%) of the UK population are within three (3) miles of the nearest Post Office Branch.
Whilst the Post Office branch numbers can fluctuate between areas and regions, the Post Office works hard with communities to ensure that service is maintained and this can include solutions such as mobile or other types of outreach services where necessary.
In the Government's Spending Review it was announced that we will be investing £227m in the Post Office in 2021/22. This reflects our commitment to the role that post offices play across our communities.
While Post Office Limited is publicly owned, it operates as an independent, commercial business. Therefore, details regarding the branch type and the number of closed Post Offices in (a) Scotland, (b) England, (c) Wales, and (d) Northern Ireland as of 5 July 2021, are an operational matter for Post Office Limited.
While Post Office Limited is publicly owned, it operates as an independent, commercial business. Therefore, details regarding the branch type and the number of closed Post Offices in (a) Scotland, (b) England, (c) Wales, and (d) Northern Ireland as of 5 July 2021, are an operational matter for Post Office Limited.
The UK has robust legislation on accessibility through the protections covered by the Equality Act 2006, Equality Act 2010, and equivalent legislation in Northern Ireland. The Equality Act 2010 prohibits discrimination on grounds of disability and imposes a duty on providers of goods and services to make reasonable adjustments to prevent this.
Through the November 2020 Spending Review a total of £227m of funding has been allocated to the Post Office to extend the network subsidy by £50 million and to provide £177 million to invest in the future of the network. This will ensure that post offices in every corner of the country, including our vital rural branches, can keep providing essential services for the people that rely on them – now and in the future.
The subsidy will be used to support the costs of loss-making post offices, in the same way that previous subsidies provided to the Post Office have been used. In order to support Spending Review decisions, the Department considered the impact of subsidy on subpostmasters across the Post Office network.
BEIS has a long track record of engaging with relevant organisations in relation to Post Office, including funding provided for the network, and it continues to meet with them on a regular basis.
Through the November 2020 Spending Review a total of £227m of funding has been allocated to the Post Office to extend the network subsidy by £50 million and to provide £177 million to invest in the future of the network. This will ensure that post offices in every corner of the country, including our vital rural branches, can keep providing essential services for the people that rely on them – now and in the future.
The subsidy will be used to support the costs of loss-making post offices, in the same way that previous subsidies provided to the Post Office have been used. In order to support Spending Review decisions, the Department considered the impact of subsidy on subpostmasters across the Post Office network.
BEIS has a long track record of engaging with relevant organisations in relation to Post Office, including funding provided for the network, and it continues to meet with them on a regular basis.
The UK has left the EU, and as the Transition Period ended on 31 December 2020 the UK will not be required to transpose the EAA into UK law.
The UK already has robust legislation on accessibility through the protections covered by the Equality Act 2006, Equality Act 2010, and equivalent legislation in Northern Ireland. The Equality Act 2010 prohibits discrimination on grounds of disability and imposes a duty on providers of goods and services to make reasonable adjustments to prevent this.
The Government will consider how further to improve or enhance accessibility through domestic legislation, and provide real benefit to citizens with disabilities.
As an independent, sovereign nation we are now ideally placed to capitalise on the wealth of opportunities available to us. We want to go further than ever before to uphold workers’ rights, support UK businesses and ultimately boost productivity in the UK.
Our high standards have never been dependent on EU membership, and this agreement recognises the importance of these employment standards, whilst retaining flexibility for us to tailor our approach to what works for the UK and maintaining our strong levels of protection.
As an independent, sovereign nation we are now ideally placed to capitalise on the wealth of opportunities available to us. We want to go further than ever before to uphold workers’ rights, support UK businesses and ultimately boost productivity in the UK.
Our high standards have never been dependent on EU membership, and this agreement recognises the importance of these employment standards, whilst retaining flexibility for us to tailor our approach to what works for the UK and maintaining our strong levels of protection.
Under the Companies Act, firms have 9 months after the relevant financial year ends to file its accounts, meaning the end of December 2020 for Post Office Limited. Companies House has provided an optional three-month extension of this deadline due to Covid-19. In recent years Post Office Limited has laid its report and accounts before Parliament between September and December.
The Government will provide £227 million of funding through the Spending Review to the Post Office. This extends the £50 million network subsidy and provides Post Office with £177 million to invest in the future of the network.
Post Office responded to the BEIS Select Committee Inquiry in June 2020 regarding costs of the group litigation and its consequences and estimated that, since 2016/17 Post Office has incurred costs of approximately £43m in relation to the litigation (which began in April 2016). This figure includes expenditure on legal and consultancy fees connected with the litigation and other costs indirectly related to the litigation, but excludes the settlement amount of £57.75m which was ultimately paid by Post Office in December 2019.
The settlement in relation to the Horizon IT case agreed in December 2019 will be included in Post Office’s annual report and accounts for the financial year 2019/20, as will spend on litigation costs for financial year 2019/20.
Under the Companies Act, firms have 9 months after the relevant financial year ends to file their accounts, meaning the end of December 2020 for 2019/20 accounts. For accounts from the 2019/20 financial year Companies House has provided an optional three-month extension of this deadline due to Covid-19. In recent years, the Post Office has laid its report and accounts before Parliament between September and December.
Post Office responded to the BEIS Select Committee Inquiry in June 2020 regarding costs of the group litigation and its consequences and estimated that, since 2016/17 Post Office has incurred costs of approximately £43m in relation to the litigation (which began in April 2016). This figure includes expenditure on legal and consultancy fees connected with the litigation and other costs indirectly related to the litigation, but excludes the settlement amount of £57.75m which was ultimately paid by Post Office in December 2019.
The settlement in relation to the Horizon IT case agreed in December 2019 will be included in Post Office’s annual report and accounts for the financial year 2019/20, as will spend on litigation costs for financial year 2019/20.
Under the Companies Act, firms have 9 months after the relevant financial year ends to file their accounts, meaning the end of December 2020 for 2019/20 accounts. For accounts from the 2019/20 financial year Companies House has provided an optional three-month extension of this deadline due to Covid-19. In recent years, the Post Office has laid its report and accounts before Parliament between September and December.
The question of financial provisions relating to future legal costs is an operational matter for the Post Office Limited. Post Office Limited will be following appropriate accounting standards in producing their annual accounts.