What is the Horizon IT scandal?
Between 1999 and 2015 the Post Office relentlessly pursued operators of sub-post offices across the UK for alleged theft, fraud and false accounting based on information from its Horizon IT system installed in the late 1990s.
That was despite knowing that from at least 2010 onwards that there were faults in the centralised accounting software.
In total, about 3,500 branch owner-operators were wrongly accused of taking money from their businesses, with more than 900 prosecuted by the Post Office despite protesting their innocence and raising issues with the software in their defence.
The scandal is frequently described as the most widespread miscarriage of justice in UK history.
What harm did it cause?
Hundreds of sub-post office operators ended up with criminal records and punishments ranging from having to do community service and wear electronic tags to being jailed. Many were left struggling financially or even bankrupt following convictions. Even those who did not go to court had to drum up money to cover nonexistent shortfalls.
Victims and their families were severely hit by stress, and in many cases illness, with the scandal linked to at least four suicides.
For years the Post Office, which has the power to investigate and prosecute without the need for police involvement, continued to defend itself against accusations and press reports highlighting problems with the IT system, developed by Japan’s Fujitsu, including through legal means.
In 2019, a group of post office operators won a high court case in which their convictions were ruled wrongful and the Horizon IT system was ruled to be at fault. In 2021, the ruling was upheld on appeal, quashing the convictions of some workers who were wrongly accused of committing crimes, paving the way for compensation.
However, even since the computer system was found to be defective, the Post Office has still opposed a number of appeals by operators.
What kind of justice have victims got since?
By last month, 142 appeal case reviews had been completed out of 900 people convicted during the scandal, with 93 convictions overturned and 54 upheld, withdrawn or refused permission to appeal.
A total of £24m has been paid out in relation to overturned convictions. However, there has been widespread criticism that the Post Office has been dragging its feet with delays to payments. Dozens of victims have died before they could receive any compensation.
It has also come under fire for further blunders, such as tax being charged on compensation and offering bosses about £1.6m in bonuses, with handling of the Horizon inquiry one of four “metrics” on which payments were awarded.
The overturned convictions process is one of three different compensation schemes that have been established as the scandal developed, and last September ministers promised that every branch owner-operator whose wrongful conviction had been overturned would receive £600,000 in compensation from the government.
More than £130m has so far been paid out to about 2,500 Post Office workers across the three schemes. However, last month it emerged that the Post Office had almost halved the amount set aside for payouts as fewer owner-operators than expected had won or brought appeals.
What about those who pursued the prosecutions?
To date no Post Office staff have been punished for the scandal. On Friday, the Metropolitan police confirmed for the first time that the Post Office is under criminal investigation over “potential fraud offences” committed during the scandal.
The Met is already investigating two former Fujitsu experts, who were witnesses in the trials, for perjury and perverting the course of justice.
Why is the scandal back in the headlines?
The independent public inquiry, established in September 2020 and made statutory the following June, has brought further revelations.
The hearings led by retired judge Sir Wyn Williams, featuring testimony and internal documents from former Post Office management, members of legal teams involved at the time, investigators and victims, are expected to be completed some time this year.
Campaigners have also highlighted other shocking aspects of the story, including documents that Post Office prosecutors classified branch owner-operators by ethnicity, using a racist term for black workers.
An ITV drama broadcast last week, Mr Bates v the Post Office, highlighting the story of Alan Bates leading the fight for justice for him and his fellow sub-post office operators, was widely watched and has renewed public outrage and calls for action against those involved.
What happens next?
Rishi Sunak said on Sunday that ministers were considering plans to exonerate post office operators whose lives have been ruined. The prime minister also confirmed that the justice secretary, Alex Chalk, could strip the Post Office of its private prosecution powers.
There have been calls for former Post Office boss Paula Vennells, who was chief executive for much of the period during which the postmasters were wrongly pursued, to be stripped of her CBE.
Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, has also come under increasing criticism for his lack of action when he was postal affairs minister between 2010 and 2012, when the software issues started coming to light.
In May 2010, Davey refused to meet Bates, saying he did not believe seeing the campaigning post office operator “would serve any purpose”. Davey, who did later meet Bates in October 2010, has said he regretted not doing more at the time and claimed that Post Office executives had blocked him from meeting campaigners.
In the meantime, the Post Office continues to use the Horizon system. The loss-making Post Office has asked the government for £252m of funding to keep it afloat, including money to cover the cost of updating the controversial IT system, which it still uses with support from developers Fujitsu.
