Recommendation POH-IR1-1: Allow Advisory Board to monitor individual cases and make full and fair monitoring a core duty
From First Interim Report: Compensation, published 17 July 2023.
Recommendation
The Horizon Compensation Advisory Board should not be prevented from monitoring individual cases in which compensation has been or is to be determined by paragraph 4 of its Terms of Reference. It must be one of the core duties of the Board that it monitors whether compensation payments are full and fair.
In brief (written by this site)
The Inquiry asked that the advisory board monitor individual cases and compensation fairness. In October 2023, the Department for Business and Trade agreed that the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board could receive anonymised individual case information, but endorsed its view that monitoring whether payments are full and fair is not advisable (Department for Business and Trade response, Oct 2023). It noted that existing terms of reference already permit the board to advise ministers (Department for Business and Trade response, Oct 2023).
Sources
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 1 Oct 2026. The record below is the sources' own words.
Government response
The advisory board’s aim is to help the department to ensure fair and prompt compensation to postmasters affected by the Horizon scandal and related issues. The department agrees that, in delivering this aim, it may be helpful for the advisory board to be given anonymised information about individual cases. However, the department endorses the view expressed by the board, in the report of its 31 July meeting and in its letter of 15 August 2023 to the inquiry, that it would not be “possible or advisable for us to intervene in the determination or outcomes of individual cases, nor to give an opinion on individual outcomes, or an opinion that full and fair compensation is being paid out to individuals”. 4. The Terms of Reference allow the advisory board to advise the minister whenever it sees fit. Reports of its 6-weekly meetings are communicated to the minister and published.
How this response relates to the recommendation
Site note: The Department for Business and Trade's response to the Inquiry's first interim report. The page prints no date; GOV.UK records it as first published on 26 October 2023, the date the site uses.
Site note: The department answers interim recommendations 1 and 3 together under one passage headed "3. Recommendations accepted in part". The same words are recorded on POH-IR1-1 and POH-IR1-3.
Delivery
No statement on delivery from Department for Business and Trade has been found in the sources searched (last checked 18 June 2026). This is separate from the response above.
Responsible bodies
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- Department for Business and Trade
Response