Post Office scandal explained: What the Horizon saga is all about

Image source, ITV

By Kevin Peachey, Michael Race & Vishala Sri-Pathma

BBC News

Steps to clear the names of hundreds of sub-postmasters convicted in the Post Office Horizon scandal are being considered by the government.

More than 700 people were prosecuted after faulty software made it look like money was missing.

Their case is in the spotlight following the ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office.

What is the Post Office scandal?

Between 1999 and 2015, the Post Office prosecuted 736 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses – an average of one a week – based on information from a computer system called Horizon.

Many maintained their innocence and said they had repeatedly raised issues about problems with Horizon.

But some went to prison for false accounting and theft. Many were financially ruined.

After 20 years, campaigners won a legal battle to have their cases reconsidered. But to date only 93 convictions have been overturned.

A public inquiry began in February 2021, but many victims are still fighting to have their convictions overturned, or to secure full compensation.

The Metropolitan Police is investigating the Post Office over potential fraud offences arising from the prosecutions.

What is the Horizon system?

Horizon was introduced by the Post Office in 1999. The system was developed by the Japanese company Fujitsu, for tasks like accounting and stocktaking.

Sub-postmasters complained about bugs in the system after it falsely reported shortfalls – some for many thousands of pounds.

Some attempted to plug the gap with their own money, as their contracts stated they were responsible for any shortfalls. Many faced bankruptcy or lost their livelihoods as a result.

The Horizon system is still used by the Post Office, which describes the latest version as “robust”.

What was the effect on Post Office workers?

Many former sub-postmasters and postmistresses have described how the scandal ruined their lives.

They had to cope with the long-term impact of a criminal conviction and imprisonment.

Marriages broke down, and some families believe the stress led to health conditions, addiction and premature deaths.

Media caption, Watch: I’m really, really angry – postmaster gets emotional

Will convictions be quashed?

The government is under pressure to find a way to quickly overturn the convictions, but this is not straightforward.

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said the idea of using legislation to quash the convictions of Post Office workers caught up in the scandal was under “active consideration”.

However, this could be difficult because the courts and judges’ decisions are constitutionally independent of politicians and Parliament, says BBC home and legal affairs correspondent Dominic Casciani.

Any bill put forward by the government to quash all relevant legal convictions, no matter how noble its aims, could undermine that independence.

Another option could be to issue royal pardons to the hundreds of wrongly accused sub-postmasters, but this is a symbolic act, which would not overturn their convictions.

A third option would be to speed up existing appeals, our correspondent says.

After an earlier ruling showed the Horizon system was flawed, the Criminal Cases Review Commission sent 42 Post Office cases to the Court of Appeal. It exonerated 39 people in one go.

However the CCRC applies a strict legal test which essentially tries to anticipate what the Court of Appeal will decide, and critics say this means it rejects cases which should procceed.

Are people going to get compensation?

The government has previously said Post Office workers who have had wrongful convictions for theft and false accounting overturned are to be offered £600,000 each in compensation.

However, there has been concern that the process of getting compensation to victims has been far too slow.

Of the 93 convictions that have been overturned, only 30 of those people have agreed “full and final settlements”

In its last annual report, the Post Office said that it had halved the size of the compensation pot it had set aside, based on its “best estimate” of future claims.

Some 54 cases have resulted in convictions being upheld, people being refused permission to appeal, or people withdrawing from the process, according to the Post Office.

The amount of payments for full and final compensation paid out to victims stands at £17.3m.

Why have Paula Vennells and Ed Davey been criticised?

The former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells is handing back her CBE after a petition gathered more than a million signatures.

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey has also faced pressure over his handling of the scandal, when he was postal affairs minister in the coalition government.

In May 2010, he refused to meet Alan Bates, the sub-postmaster who led the campaign to expose the scandal, saying he did not believe it “would serve any purpose”. The pair later met in October 2010.

Mr Davey recently said he regretted not asking “tougher questions” of Post Office managers, describing what had happened as “dreadful”.

This Panorama special tells the story of those whose lives were utterly devastated, reveals the damning evidence that was kept from them and investigates how and why the Post Office, a multinational tech company and the government covered up the truth for so long. (UK only)