Scotland Yard has reportedly deployed 80 detectives to identify suspects in the Post Office Horizon IT scandal.
The investigation will examine potential offences of perjury and perverting the course of justice by senior executives and technology company Fujitsu. A core team of officers and staff has been looking at wide-ranging allegations since January 2020 following a referral from the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Resources will be similar to a UK-wide counter-terrorism investigation and there has been a request for a special grant of at least £6.75 million to fund the operation. Any charges are unlikely to be brought before 2026 as the police are expected to wait until the public inquiry into the scandal concludes next year before seeking charging decisions from the Crown Prosecution Service.
In the early 2000s, hundreds of sub-postmasters and postmistresses were wrongly accused of fraud, theft and false accounting. People lost their homes and livelihoods as a result of the injustice, and four people are believed to have taken their own lives.
The timeline of events in the scandal has lasted more than two decades and still nobody from the Post Office or Fujitsu has been held accountable in the courts.
The case, considered the country’s biggest miscarriage of justice, was brought back into the public eye by the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office. It prompted fresh calls for compensation for the sub-postmasters and demands for those involved to be held accountable.
Here's the lowdown on the scandal.
What is the Post Office scandal?
Horizon was introduced into the Post Office network in January 1999. The system was used for transactions, accounting and stocktaking, and was created by the Japanese corporation Fujitsu.
As soon as the system started to detect shortages, some of which totalled several thousand pounds, sub-postmasters complained about faults in the software that made it appear as though money was missing. Some sub-postmasters made (often futile) attempts to fill the hole with their own money, even remortgaging their homes.
Based on the data from the system, the Post Office prosecuted 736 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses between 2000 and 2014, or one a week on average.
As a result, following convictions for theft and false accounting, some were sent to prison; many others went bankrupt, and people have spoken of being shunned by their communities. Some have now passed away.
Does the Post Office still use Horizon?
The Post Office’s website says Horizon is still being used.
“The current version of the system, introduced from 2017, was found in the group litigation to be robust, relative to comparable systems," it said. "But we are not complacent about that and are continuing to work, together with our postmasters, to make improvements.”
The website adds it will be moving away from Horizon to a new IT cloud-based system, which will be “more user friendly and easier to adapt for new products and services”.
The BBC reported that the Post Office had paid Fujitsu over £95 million to extend the Horizon contract until the end of 2025. The BBC said it was thought that replacing the system would take years and cost hundreds of millions.
How many people were wrongfully blamed in the Post Office scandal?
The Post Office has to date identified 700 convictions in cases it prosecuted between 1999 and 2015 in which Horizon evidence may have played a part.
After a protracted string of legal lawsuits, the Post Office settled with 555 claimants in December 2019. It acknowledged that it had "gotten things wrong in [its] dealings with a number of postmasters" in the past and consented to pay £58 million in compensation. After legal bills were paid, the claimants received a portion of £12 million.
Following the High Court action, more cases were submitted to the Criminal Cases Review Commission, an impartial agency that looks into possible injustices.
In 2021 the Government said interim payments of up to £100,000 would be made to Post Office workers who had their convictions for theft, fraud and false accounting quashed. The payments would be in advance of final agreements reached through mediation or by filing lawsuits in civil courts.
What happens next?
Legislation approved on May 24 provides for the exoneration of hundreds of sub-postmasters.
Under the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act incorrectly convicted individuals will have the choice to accept a settlement of £600,000 in lieu of filing a formal claim. They will also have their convictions quashed so long as they meet statutory requirements.
By the end of July, the majority of victims in England and Wales should be cleared by the legislation, under the new scheme run by the Department for Business and Trade.
Additionally, sub-postmasters who covered the apparent losses from the Horizon system out of their own pockets but were not found guilty or involved in a lawsuit against the Post Office will receive "enhanced" financial compensation. According to the Government, they will be eligible for a set amount of £75,000 under the Horizon Shortfall Scheme.
Sub-postmasters who have already accepted a lower payout will have their amount increased. Alternatively, individuals may elect to have their claims evaluated as part of the standard scheme procedure, in which there is no cap.
The Government announced that those who have had their convictions overturned can apply “as soon as possible” for the new Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme.
