Post Office Horizon compensation gaps
Limitations in the Post Office Horizon compensation process, specifically regarding the flexibility for claimants to revert to a Fixed Sum Offer.
143 items
3 sources
2 inquiries
Strongest theme matches
Mixed across source types and ranked by classifier confidence plus text match strength.
Committee recommendation
100match
#28 - Eighth Report - Post Office and Horizon - Compensation: interim report
We have recommended in this Report that the Government set up a properly resourced independent intermediary to assist sub-postmasters seeking to overturn convictions and seek compensation. We recommend that this same body should also be tasked with assisting sub-postmasters who are accessing the Historic Shortfall Scheme. This should include providing claimants with access to forensic accountants and legal...
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
100match
#27 - Eighth Report - Post Office and Horizon - Compensation: interim report
We recommend that the Government liaise with the Post Office to establish how many of the 2,500 claimants have been offered support through the Scheme, at which point support was offered, if costs were covered, how much was paid on average, and what the nature of that support was and who provided it. We also recommend that BEIS...
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
100match
#26 - Eighth Report - Post Office and Horizon - Compensation: interim report
It is deeply troubling, given the historical nature of Horizon, its complexity as a flawed IT system and in many cases a lack of records, that some claimants seem 26 Post Office and Horizon - Compensationn interim report to be preparing claims and accepting offers without appropriate legal and forensic accounting support. If claimants accept offers that have...
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
100match
#22 - Eighth Report - Post Office and Horizon - Compensation: interim report
It is worrying to hear that many of the claims awarded so far may be towards the low end of the compensation scale. To dispel any fears that Horizon victims are not being compensated fairly we recommend that the Government ask the Post Office to provide information showing the spread of average claims paid out so far with...
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
100match
#16 - Eighth Report - Post Office and Horizon - Compensation: interim report
We share concerns about the process by which claims to the Historic Shortfall Scheme are assessed and then reviewed by the Independent Panel. Bearing in mind that the Post Office (POL) bears a major part of the responsibility for the Horizon scandal, it seems perverse that POL is making initial recommendations regarding claims.
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
100match
#15 - Eighth Report - Post Office and Horizon - Compensation: interim report
It is imperative that any victim of the Horizon scandal receives compensation that puts them back in the position they would have been in had the scandal not occurred, whilst also taking accounting of the distress the scandal caused them. We are therefore troubled by the suggestion that the Historic Shortfall Scheme will pay out little in consequential...
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
100match
#12 - Eighth Report - Post Office and Horizon - Compensation: interim report
We ask POL to explain how it ensures that the ADR process is fully independent from the Scheme, how many claimants have used it, and what the outcomes have been. We also recommend that the Government provide us with details of BEIS and UKGI’s oversight role in the Scheme’s ADR process. We specifically note that 22 offers have...
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
100match
#11 - Eighth Report - Post Office and Horizon - Compensation: interim report
Offers to claimants should only be full and final where claimants have received independent advice and have exhausted their rights to recourse to the Historical Shortfall Scheme’s alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process. We ask the Government to seek clarity from the Post Office Ltd. (POL) on the basis on which offers are made, in particular whether claimants were...
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
100match
#12 - 16th Report - Post Office Horizon scandal: Justice for sub-postmasters
The Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme (HCRS) appears to be working well for overall for claimants who have had their convictions overturned, but unnecessary delays remain. We welcome the positive change for claimants that now have a basic safeguard in the form of a guaranteed minimum payment of £600,000. Given that all eligible claimants are now effectively guaranteed at...
Matched on
terms: horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
100match
#10 - 16th Report - Post Office Horizon scandal: Justice for sub-postmasters
The Government has not properly implemented Sir Wyn Williams’s recommendation to provide legal advice for HSS claimants. Sub- postmasters have already waited far too long for the redress they are owed. Requiring sub-postmasters to progress through the HSS without 39 legal support, merely to reach the stage at which they can obtain funded advice when appealing through the...
Matched on
terms: horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
100match
#3 - 16th Report - Post Office Horizon scandal: Justice for sub-postmasters
Post Office Ltd and the Government must make every effort to ensure that outstanding offers are issued and remaining claims are fully settled. Without exerting pressure on vulnerable claimants, we recommend that every effort be made to ensure that all redress payments are completed in
Matched on
terms: horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
100match
#7 - Post Office Horizon scandal victims still awaiting full and timely compensation.
Victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal continue to suffer as they await compensation due. The Horizon accounting system erroneously recorded shortfalls of cash in local Post Office branches over its more than 20-year lifetime. The Post Office blamed many of these shortfalls on sub postmasters and sub postmistresses, despite it being the Horizon system that was at...
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
100match
#2 - Remove Post Office from redress delivery and establish an independent intermediary for sub-postmasters.
The Government must immediately remove the Post Office from any involvement in delivering redress for sub-postmasters and the Government should set out to the Committee how it proposes to deliver swift and effective redress for sub-postmasters, and in what legally binding timeframes. We repeat the Committee’s recommendation that the Government set up a properly resourced independent intermediary to...
Matched on
terms: compensation, office, post
Committee recommendation
99match
#25 - Eighth Report - Post Office and Horizon - Compensation: interim report
We ask the Government to confirm that the burden of proof should not rest solely with the claimant, not least because POL itself hasn’t kept appropriate records, including itemisation of which postmasters paid what amounts to individual suspense accounts. The fact these funds were merely added to the overall profits of the Post Office during those applicable years...
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
99match
#24 - Eighth Report - Post Office and Horizon - Compensation: interim report
We recommend that POL shares details, with relevant examples, of how it takes the absence of information into account when it makes its initial recommendations for claims and how the Independent Panel reflects on such cases. We recommend that POL sets out how many claims have been refused by the Scheme or rejected by claimants, where an absence...
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
99match
#19 - Eighth Report - Post Office and Horizon - Compensation: interim report
We are disappointed that so few claims have been processed by the Historic Shortfall Scheme considering it was closed over a year ago. The conclusion of only 30% of Post Office and Horizon - Compensationn interim report 25 claims does not represent significant progress. There is a danger that every delay will lead to many sub-postmasters continuing to...
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
99match
#14 - Eighth Report - Post Office and Horizon - Compensation: interim report
In response to this report, POL and BEIS should provide details of who was consulted in drawing up the Scheme, what issues were raised by those consulted, and how those issues were addressed. We also recommend that POL and BEIS set out what opportunities were given to claimants to raise concerns after the Scheme was opened and how...
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
99match
#13 - Eighth Report - Post Office and Horizon - Compensation: interim report
Bearing in mind the nature of the Horizon scandal—including the deep mistrust of its victims of the Post Office Ltd. (POL), BEIS and UKGI, its historical nature and issues surrounding the availability of records and a flawed IT system—we would have expected very careful engagement with those who would be expected to use the Historical Shortfall Scheme. It...
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
99match
#8 - Eighth Report - Post Office and Horizon - Compensation: interim report
We recommend that the Government provides regular updates when compensation is refused for sub-postmasters who have had their convictions overturned, the reasons for this and if subsequent compensation is sought and awarded. The Government should ensure that POL provide us with details of the mediation for those seeking compensation after overturning a conviction, including the process, how independence...
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
99match
#7 - Eighth Report - Post Office and Horizon - Compensation: interim report
We are concerned that some sub-postmasters have been denied interim compensation payments despite having had their convictions overturned. The Post Office Ltd. (POL) and the Minister noted that this is because the reliability of Horizon evidence is not central to those individual claimants’ cases. The Horizon story has centred to a large extent on a lack of transparency...
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
99match
#5 - Eighth Report - Post Office and Horizon - Compensation: interim report
The Government must confirm how long it expects it to take for final settlements to be made to sub-postmasters after they have received their interim payments. The Government should set out what criteria they are using to determine final payments, alongside indicative examples of what claimants can expect in terms of overall compensation, which should include compensation for...
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
99match
#4 - Eighth Report - Post Office and Horizon - Compensation: interim report
We recommend that the Government urgently set up an independent intermediary body as a trusted first point of contact for those wrongly convicted because of Horizon, in particular for the 576 convicted sub-postmasters who have not yet come forward. The independent body should be appropriately resourced to support these victims to begin the process of overturning convictions and...
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
99match
#3 - Eighth Report - Post Office and Horizon - Compensation: interim report
We are deeply concerned that, despite the efforts that the Post Office Ltd. (POL) has made to contact them, so few sub-postmasters have approached POL to begin the process of overturning ‘unsafe’ Horizon convictions. POL has conceded that this might be to do with the trauma caused by the Horizon scandal and the Minister accepted that it might...
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
99match
#26 - 16th Report - Post Office Horizon scandal: Justice for sub-postmasters
Given the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC)’s revelations about (a) cases involving software other than Capture and Horizon, and (b) the difficulties in compiling the necessary information in many historical cases relating to Capture and other IT systems used by Post Office Ltd, there are indications that it may prove impossible for those who suffered a miscarriage of...
Matched on
terms: horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
99match
#4 - Require Post Office full disclosures and introduce independent appeals mechanism for sub-postmasters.
To ensure that offers of redress are fast and fair, the Government must: (Paragraph 16) a) Require full disclosures by the Post Office of the information needed to submit full and fair claims within legally binding timeframes; b) publish a standardised tariff of damages to help sub-postmasters claim the full amount to which they are entitled; c) remove...
Matched on
terms: horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
99match
#14 - Require plan to notify all eligible postmasters and provide monthly Horizon redress scheme data.
While it is reassuring that the Government have put a timeframe on completing eligibility checks, we are concerned that some individuals may never know of their right to redress. The lack of data published means it is difficult for the Committee to fully scrutinise progress of this scheme across all Home Nations. The Government must set out a...
Matched on
terms: horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
95match
#29 - Eighth Report - Post Office and Horizon - Compensation: interim report
We look forward to receiving estimates from BEIS of the total expected cost of the Horizon scandal and a full breakdown, including any costs paid by the Post Office Ltd. (POL) itself. We also look forward to seeing the Government’s estimate of how much it would cost to reach a fair settlement with the 555, which we have...
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
95match
#23 - Eighth Report - Post Office and Horizon - Compensation: interim report
The absence of records held by the Post Office Ltd. (POL) and other relevant organisations, such as HMRC, DWP and the Royal Mail Group, along with an absence of local suspense accounts for individual POL branches, raises serious questions as to how victims of Horizon are supposed to identify and evidence the losses they suffered. POL and BEIS...
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
95match
#21 - Eighth Report - Post Office and Horizon - Compensation: interim report
We recommend that the Government ask POL to set out and share stretching monthly targets and outturns on how the backlog of claims is being addressed. We also recommend that BEIS and UKGI in their oversight role give monthly updates on what actions they are taking to ensure these targets are agreed and met.
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
95match
#10 - Eighth Report - Post Office and Horizon - Compensation: interim report
In responding to this report, we expect the Government to explain how the Historic Shortfall Scheme differs from the HBOS Reading scheme and what safeguards have been built in to avoid the problems that the latter scheme experienced.
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
95match
#6 - Eighth Report - Post Office and Horizon - Compensation: interim report
We recommend that the Government provides monthly updates on the number of interim payments made, the number of final payments made, and the range of Post Office and Horizon - Compensationn interim report 23 amounts paid out to reach full, fair and final settlements. Because of the nature of the Horizon scandal, transparency on these issues is crucial...
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
95match
#2 - Eighth Report - Post Office and Horizon - Compensation: interim report
We demand that the Government as a matter of urgency commit to ensuring that the 555 are fully compensated for all of their losses on the same basis as other victims of this scandal receiving compensation. (Paragraph 17) Prosecuted Sub-postmasters and ‘unsafe’ convictions
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
95match
#1 - Eighth Report - Post Office and Horizon - Compensation: interim report
We are deeply disappointed that the 555 group action litigants, who took the Post Office Ltd. (POL) to court and who exposed the Horizon scandal, should be worse off than other victims of Horizon who would otherwise not be in a position to make claims. It is a perverse situation that the prolonged legal proceedings and the resulting...
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
95match
#29 - 16th Report - Post Office Horizon scandal: Justice for sub-postmasters
The Department must ensure it understands the extent of the problem. Therefore, it must urgently investigate the number of potential cases relating to Post Office pre-Horizon IT systems to judge whether there has been a further mass miscarriage of justice. (Recommendation, Paragraph 81) 43
Matched on
terms: horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
95match
#28 - 16th Report - Post Office Horizon scandal: Justice for sub-postmasters
Post Office Ltd must learn from past mistakes and should think carefully before opposing appeals against pre-Horizon convictions. (Recommendation, Paragraph 80)
Matched on
terms: horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
95match
#27 - 16th Report - Post Office Horizon scandal: Justice for sub-postmasters
The Government should bring forward legislation to quash Capture-related convictions, as it did for those relating to the Horizon IT system in 2024. (Recommendation, Paragraph 79)
Matched on
terms: horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
95match
#25 - 16th Report - Post Office Horizon scandal: Justice for sub-postmasters
We are concerned by emerging evidence that bugs in pre-Horizon IT systems, and/or failures of disclosure and investigation in these cases, may have contributed to unsafe convictions. Although the number of confirmed Capture-related cases is currently small, incomplete records mean the true figure may be higher. It is worrying that this may represent the tip of another iceberg....
Matched on
terms: horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
95match
#15 - 16th Report - Post Office Horizon scandal: Justice for sub-postmasters
We deplore the poor historical state of record keeping by the Ministry of Justice, Post Office Ltd, the Crown Prosecution Service and Royal Mail Group. Action must be taken to mitigate the risk that individuals eligible to have their convictions quashed are being missed. We recommend that Post Office Ltd undertakes a further, comprehensive review of its archival...
Matched on
terms: horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
95match
#13 - 16th Report - Post Office Horizon scandal: Justice for sub-postmasters
Every eligible, wrongly convicted applicant to HCRS now has a right to at least £600,000 in compensation. The Government must immediately take the compassionate act of making this payment upfront to all those eligible as soon as possible, regardless of whether sub-postmasters then seek additional redress through the fully-assessed route. (Recommendation, Paragraph 40) Quashed Convictions
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Committee recommendation
95match
#1 - 16th Report - Post Office Horizon scandal: Justice for sub-postmasters
We welcome the significant progress that has been made since our last report in delivering redress. We recognise that payment rates have improved across all schemes. However, we regret that thousands of sub- postmasters are still waiting for the full and final redress they are owed. (Conclusion, Paragraph 11)
Matched on
terms: horizon, office, post
Inquiry recommendation
94match
POH-IR1-5 - Seek court directions for GLO compensation in bankruptcy cases
DBT shall take such steps as are necessary within 28 days of the publication of this report to seek appropriate directions under section 306 of the Insolvency Act 1986 in respect of the dispute between Moore UK and the Department regarding the payment of GLO compensation to claimants who have been declared bankrupt.
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Inquiry recommendation
93match
POH-9 - Allow HSS Fixed Sum acceptors to appeal with independent permission
The Department following consultation with the Advisory Board, claimants' representatives and any other persons or bodies it thinks appropriate, shall give urgent consideration to whether claimants who have accepted the Fixed Sum Offer in HSS should be afforded the opportunity to appeal against their acceptance of such an offer if they are granted permission so to do. If...
Matched on
terms: horizon, office, post
Inquiry recommendation
93match
POH-5 - Allow 3-month window to accept Fixed Sum Offer after assessment
Any claimant who opts to have a claim assessed when the claim is submitted to the Post Office or the Department may decide to accept the Fixed Sum Offer at any time thereafter up to and including the date which is three calendar months following the receipt by the claimant of a first assessed offer. For the avoidance...
Matched on
terms: horizon, office, post
Inquiry recommendation
93match
POH-4 - Fund legal advice for HSS claimants before scheme choice
All claimants in HSS shall be entitled to obtain legal advice funded by the Department prior to choosing between accepting the Fixed Sum Offer or seeking financial redress which is assessed. The remuneration for such advice shall be in accordance with a scale of fees commensurate with the scale which is operative in GLOS.
Matched on
terms: horizon, office, post
Inquiry recommendation
89match
POH-8 - Require HSS first offers match Independent Advisory Panel recommendation
In HSS the Post Office shall be obliged to make, and the Department shall be obliged to approve (when necessary) a first offer to a claimant which is no less than the sum recommended by the Independent Advisory Panel.
Matched on
terms: horizon, office, post
Inquiry recommendation
86match
POH-IR1-8 - Set agreed closing date for Horizon Shortfall Scheme applications
No applications for compensation to the Horizon Shortfall Scheme shall be entertained after such date as shall be agreed by the Minister, the Department for Business and Trade, the Post Office and the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board.
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Inquiry recommendation
86match
POH-IR1-6 - Publish proposals for equal tax treatment of compensation payments
DBT shall publish within 28 days of the publication of this report its proposals for ensuring that applicants to all schemes are treated equally and fairly in respect of liability to Income Tax, Capital Gains Tax, and Inheritance Tax on compensation payments.
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Inquiry recommendation
86match
POH-IR1-3 - Make monitoring full and fair compensation a core Board duty
It must be one of the core duties of the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board that it monitors whether compensation payments are full and fair.
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Inquiry recommendation
86match
POH-IR1-1 - Allow Advisory Board to monitor individual compensation cases
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.
Matched on
terms: compensation, horizon, office, post
Inquiry recommendation
85match
POH-10 - Clarify best offer principle in HSSA guidance with examples
The Department shall issue a supplementary document/announcement clarifying the meaning and intent of the "best offer" principle in the Horizon Shortfall Scheme Appeal (''HSSA'') process demonstrating how it is intended to operate in practice with appropriate examples, if thought necessary.
Matched on
terms: horizon, office, post