Ministers have introduced legislation to quash the convictions of hundreds of post office operators who were prosecuted during the Horizon scandal in a move described as “an exceptional response to a factually exceptional situation”.
The government introduced a bill in parliament on Wednesday afternoon that will exonerate victims of the scandal in England and Wales.
The bill, which is unprecedented in its nature, will overturn convictions of theft, fraud, false accounting, money laundering and linked offences that were handed down in connection with Post Office business over more than a decade.
It will cover prosecutions brought by the Post Office and the Crown Prosecution Service in England and Wales for offences committed between 23 September 1996 and 31 December 2018.
Convictions will be quashed automatically once the bill becomes law, vindicating hundreds of victims who have campaigned for years in what has been described as the largest miscarriage of justice in British history.
There have been more than 900 convictions linked to the scandal, which involved post office operators being falsely prosecuted after a faulty computer system, Horizon, made it look as if money was missing. Only about 100 of these convictions have been quashed through the court system so far.
Ministers aim to pass the legislation by the end of July. Kevin Hollinrake, the Post Office minister, who is leading the bill, described it as “an exceptional response to a factually exceptional situation.”
“Without government intervention many of these convictions could not be overturned, either because all the evidence has long been lost or because quite simply postmasters have lost faith in the state and the criminal justice system,” Hollinrake told MPs.
Liam Byrne, the chair of the business select committee, said it was a “welcome step forward” but “not yet the full solution”.
Labour pressed the government to ensure as much compensation as possible was paid out before the end of the year and asked why the legislation did not extend to Scotland and Northern Ireland. Rushanara Ali, a shadow business minister, told MPs: “The delays are causing further financial distress and further suffering.”
Post office operators who have their convictions quashed can receive a fixed compensation payment totalling £600,000, or choose to have their case considered on an individual basis. They are eligible to receive an interim payment of £163,000 within 28 days of applying.
The government is also extending compensation to those who were never convicted or took part in legal action against the Post Office, making them eligible for £75,000 redress payments.
Senior lawyers and judges have expressed concerns about the decision to quash the convictions by statute, allowing parliament and politicians to overturn the decisions of courts. Bob Neill, the chair of the justice select committee, said it was a “most undesirable” course of action.
“It is constitutionally unprecedented to overturn convictions imposed by our courts in good faith on the evidence before them at the time by legislation,” Neill told the Commons. “It is most undesirable, frankly, that we should ever go down that route.”
“Some of us will need to see the detail of legislation, and will want to see what evidence the government had that it will be quicker and more comprehensive to quash convictions by this constitutionally unprecedented route rather than leaving it to the courts with assistance to deal with it.”
Last month ministers discussed and rejected a proposal to overturn convictions through the courts by legislating for a presumption of innocence in cases that depended on Horizon evidence.
Hollinrake told MPs that the government’s bill was “the least worst option”, saying: “We accept and have always been clear that the legislation may overturn the convictions of some people who are guilty of genuine wrongdoing. However we believe that this is a price worth paying to ensure that many innocent people are exonerated.”
Kevan Jones, a Labour MP and campaigner for post office operators, said on X: “I welcome today’s introduction of the Post Office offences bill to parliament. It is essential that this bill is passed as soon as possible so that those affected can get the justice and redress they have fought so long for.”
• This article was amended on 15 March 2024. The new bill is intended to cover convictions for offences committed between 23 September 1996 and 31 December 2018, not for prosecutions brought in this period, as an earlier version stated.
