POH-IR1-1 Response Accepted in Part

Allow Advisory Board to monitor individual compensation cases

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.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
- The Department for Business and Trade accepted this recommendation in part on 21 September 2023, confirming the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board would consider whether "full and fair compensation is being paid out to applicants" (Government response to the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry interim report, DBT, September 2023).
- The Horizon Compensation Advisory Board has published quarterly reports on its monitoring activities, including monitoring individual cases (Horizon Compensation Advisory Board published reports, ongoing).
- The Business and Trade Select Committee heard evidence confirming the Advisory Board was performing this monitoring function (Business and Trade Select Committee evidence session, January 2026).
Sources
How was this evidence gathered?
Evidence searched by Claude (Anthropic) on 10 Apr 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
Jurisdiction
UK-wide
Response
Accepted in Part
Accepted in Part Department for Business and Trade
21 Sep 2023

Department for Business and Trade accepts this recommendation in part. The Horizon Compensation Advisory Board shall consider whether "full and fair compensation is being paid out to applicants under the 3 schemes" and shall advise the Minister at 3-monthly intervals. The Board's Terms of Reference have been updated to reflect this monitoring role.

Read Full Response
Progress Timeline
Official Report
31 Jan 2026

Verification: Interim report recommendations largely implemented through Post Office (Horizon System) Compensation Act 2024 and scheme operational changes. HSS closing date set as 31 January 2026. Sir Gary Hickinbottom appointed to oversee scheme fairness.

Source
Department for Business and Trade government_response
21 Sep 2023

Government response: Accepted in part. Department for Business and Trade accepts this recommendation in part. The Horizon Compensation Advisory Board shall consider whether "full and fair compensation is being paid out to applicants under ...

Source
Published Evidence

Published assessments of progress from inspectorates, select committees, official progress reports, and other sources. Source type badge indicates whether each assessment is independent or government self-reported.

Reasonable Progress
01 Jan 2026
Horizon Compensation Advisory Board Other

The Horizon Compensation Advisory Board has published quarterly reports on its monitoring of individual cases. Business and Trade Select Committee heard from the Board at its January 2026 session on whether it was able to monitor effectively.

Horizon Compensation Advisory Board reports (publ… View Source
Source
Inquiry Post Office Horizon Inquiry
Report First Interim Report: Compensation 17 Jul 2023
View Source
Responsible Bodies
Department for Business and Trade Primary
Themes & Tags
Post Office Horizon compensation gaps Weak Government Accountability & Scrutiny Advisory Board Monitoring Compensation
Recommendation age 2.9 yrs
Last formal update 31 Jan 2026