POH-IR1-4 Response Accepted

Increase Advisory Board membership if needed for capacity

Recommendation

If the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board considers it necessary, the number of persons appointed to the Board should be increased so as to ensure that the Board has sufficient capacity to perform the functions set out above.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
- The Department for Business and Trade accepted this recommendation on 21 September 2023, committing to keep under review the case for expanding the Board in discussion with current members (Government response to the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry interim report, DBT, September 2023).
- The Horizon Compensation Advisory Board had not required expansion as of January 2026, and DBT confirmed it would keep the case under review (Horizon Compensation Advisory Board, January 2026).
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
Accepted Department for Business and Trade
21 Sep 2023

Department for Business and Trade accepts this recommendation. The Department will keep under review the case for expanding the Board, in discussion with its current members, to ensure it has sufficient capacity to fulfil its duties.

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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.

Department for Business and Trade government_response
21 Sep 2023

Government response: Accepted. Department for Business and Trade accepts this recommendation. The Department will keep under review the case for expanding the Board, in discussion with its current members, to ensure it has sufficie...

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 had not required expansion as of January 2026. DBT confirmed it would keep the case for expanding the Board under review in discussion with the Board itself.

Horizon Compensation Advisory Board reports (publ… View Source
Source
Report First Interim Report: Compensation 17 Jul 2023
Responsible Bodies
Department for Business and Trade Primary
Recommendation age 2.9 yrs
Last formal update 31 Jan 2026