Inquiries Post Office Horizon Inquiry Hearings ongoingReported

Reports & recommendations

27 recommendations from 2 reports, each with the government response on the record. Filter by government response, report or delivery status.

Recommendations (1)

POH-13
Not accepted

Close HSS Dispute Resolution Procedure when HSSA opens

Recommendation
The current Dispute Resolution Procedure in HSS should be closed once all claimants currently within the Procedure have either (a) settled their claims or (b) transferred to HSSA. No claimant who is not in the Dispute Resolution Procedure when HSSA …
In brief (written by this site)

The Inquiry recommended closing the Horizon Shortfall Scheme dispute resolution procedure once appeals open. In October 2025, Blair McDougall, Minister for Small Business and Economic Transformation, stated that the Department for Business and Trade rejected closing the procedure to avoid unfairly restricting postmasters' choices (Blair McDougall, Oct 2025). In March 2026, the Business and Trade Committee HC 1598 acknowledged the refusal without disputing it, while finding that the wider shortfall scheme suffered from operational problems (Business and Trade Committee HC 1598, Mar 2026). The committee reported that thousands of claimants were still awaiting settlement (Business and Trade Committee HC 1598, Mar 2026).

Post Office Ltd · 09 Oct 2025 Not accepted
Words of: Nigel Railton, Chair of Post Office Limited, in a letter to Sir Wyn Williams, 9 October 2025 (Inquiry evidence RESP0000001)
Post Office, in consultation with DBT, has carefully considered this recommendation, but both parties agree that it is fairer to postmasters to allow them to continue to opt to resolve their claims within the Dispute Resolution Procedure ("DRP"), should they wish to do so, and therefore will not adopt this recommendation. There are differences in the way in which claims are resolved in the DRP and the government's HSSA process and we see a benefit to allowing postmasters to continue to assert free choice in deciding how they wish to bring closure to their claim.
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Department for Business and Trade · 09 Oct 2025 Not accepted
Words of: Department for Business and Trade, Government response to the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry report (volume 1), 9 October 2025
DBT rejects this recommendation as we believe it comes into conflict with the principle of “full and fair” redress set out as we accepted Recommendation 2. DBT’s view is that it would not be fair to postmasters to restrict their choice in this way. Nor would it be consistent with the reasonable expectations of postmasters in the light of the terms of the HSS. Many postmasters are expected to choose the HSSA process if they want to challenge their offer. However, DBT believes it is important that each postmaster decides the best route for their own case, with the benefit …
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Department for Business and Trade (Primary)
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