Post Office is taking determined action to help ensure that miscarriages of justice are addressed and that full, fair and final financial redress is paid to victims of the Horizon Scandal. We must address the past and put things right, as far as that is possible, so that people can move forward with their lives.
Hundreds of people with convictions had these overturned by legislation known as the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act which passed into law in May 2024. This covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with similar legislation introduced for Scotland by the Government in June 2024.
There are two separate redress arrangements for people with eligible convictions that have been overturned:
- Those who had their convictions overturned by the courts are eligible for the Overturned Convictions arrangements administered by Post Office and further data on progress is available on this page below.
- Those who had their convictions quashed by the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act in May 2024, or by the legislation in Scotland, are eligible for the Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme (HCRS), which is being administered by the Department for Business and Trade. Further details can be found here.
This page includes information relating to the first of these, the Overturned Convictions arrangements, administered by Post Office.
Eligibility for redress
Anyone whose Horizon-related conviction has been overturned by the Courts can apply for redress via arrangements Post Office has put in place for this. This includes administrators acting on behalf of estates for any person who has sadly passed away.
Support for legal costs
To ensure that people affected are advised and supported throughout the process, Post Office strongly recommends that they seek independent legal advice. Post Office pays all reasonable legal fees and expert fees (e.g. medical, accountancy or property valuation) separately to redress.
Payments Options
For those who have had their conviction overturned in the courts because it was reliant on Horizon evidence, there are two options for receiving redress as part of the Overturned Convictions arrangements.
Option 1: Up-front option of £600,000.
On 18 September 2023, the Government announced that anyone who was wrongly convicted and has had their conviction overturned as it was reliant on Horizon evidence, will be given the option of settling their claim for redress for an up-front sum of £600,000, without the need to bring a formal claim to Post Office. This is an entirely voluntary choice and anyone who does not want to accept this offer can continue with the process where each claim is assessed on its specific facts and individual circumstances.
Option 2: Formal claim assessment option.
Alternatively, individuals can choose to have their claims assessed on their specific facts and individual circumstances. For people who choose to have their claims assessed, interim payments are provided ahead of final settlements to ensure that money reaches them as soon as possible.
For both Option 1 and Option 2: Payments of £200,000 are made as soon as possible following the overturning of convictions.
To encourage early submission of claims, once the Post Office receives a full claim, under Option 2, from someone with an overturned conviction, it will top up their interim redress to £450,000.
See the tables below for more detailed information about progress of redress. These are updated monthly.
Interim payments
As of 29 November 2024, all 111 eligible claimants have either reached full and final settlement, or received a minimum of £200,000 via initial and/or further interim payments.
| Number of convictions overturned |
111
|
| Number of claimants accepting upfront offer in advance of initial interim payment |
4
|
| Number of claimants applying for initial interim payments [1] |
107
|
| Number of initial interim payments made [2] |
107
|
[1] Number of claimants who have submitted one or more applications to Post Office for interim payments.
[2] Number of claimants who have received initial or further interim payments, prior to acceptance of settlement offer(s).
Full and Final settlements
We are providing victims with redress which reflects the human costs suffered as well as financial impacts.
| Claimant total |
111
|
| Fully settled claims |
63
|
| Total payments for full and final redress |
£41.78m
|
| Claims to be fully settled |
48
|
| Initial interim payments made |
48
|
| Total redress open claims, in advance of full and final settlement |
£18.90m
|
| Total of all redress to date for people with Horizon-related overturned convictions (includes interim, partial and final payments) |
£60.68m
|
Progress of court appeals of convictions
Following the Government’s legislation – Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act – which passed into law on 24 May 2024, we no longer publish data on the progress of the number of convictions overturned by the appeal courts. This is because the Ministry of Justice is identifying convictions which are quashed within the scope of the Act. You can read the Government’s open letter to postmasters about this process here and access the latest data here.