Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to compensate employees of (a) the Post Office, (b) sub-postmasters and (c) shops that fulfilled Post Office functions who were (i) prosecuted, (ii) arrested and (iii) had their employment terminated on the basis of flawed information generated by the Horizon system.

Regardless of employment status, individuals who had their Horizon-related convictions overturned, or were prosecuted but not convicted, are eligible to apply for redress through the Overturned Convictions Scheme or Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme. Postmasters who were part of the 2019 group litigation against the Post Office are eligible for redress via the Group Litigation Order Scheme, whilst those not in any of these groups who suffered mainly shortfall losses may seek redress via the Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS).

Individuals who were employees of the Post Office, or those who were employed by a business partner of the Post Office or a postmaster in branch, unfortunately are not eligible for redress under the HSS. This is because they did not have a direct contract with the Post Office. We are, however, continuing to look actively at potential gaps in the provision of redress which may prevent individuals who were affected by the Horizon scandal from being able to claim redress.