Public Inquiry

Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry

Status: Ongoing Chair: Sir Wyn Williams Established: Jun 2021 Commissioned by: Department for Business and Trade

Public inquiry into the Post Office Horizon IT scandal, examining how more than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted based on faulty Fujitsu software between 1999 and 2015.

Response breakdown

27 recommendations total

70%

22%

19 (70%) — Accepted

6 (22%) — Accepted in Part

1 (4%) — Not Accepted

1 (4%) — Under Review

Reports & milestones

Reports

17 Jul 2023 8 tracked recs First Interim Report: Compensation · Tracked recommendations · PDF

08 Jul 2025 19 tracked recs Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry: Final Report · Tracked recommendations · PDF

Timeline

19 Feb 2020 Inquiry Establish… Initially non-statutory inquiry established. · Source

01 Sep 2020 Chair Appointed Sir Wyn Williams appointed as Chair.

01 Jun 2021 Converted to Stat… Inquiry converted to statutory public inquiry with power to compel witnesses.

14 Feb 2022 Hearings Begin Human impact hearings commenced.

15 May 2023 Phase 4 Hearings Phase 4 examining Fujitsu's role began.

08 Jan 2024 Phase 6 Hearings Phase 6 examining Post Office Ltd began.

13 May 2024 Phase 7 Hearings Phase 7 examining Government, UKGI and Royal Mail Group.

30 Jun 2025 Final Report Expe… Chair Sir Wyn Williams expected to publish final report. · Source

Recommendations

27 shown

Code	Recommendation	Addressed to	Response
POH-1	Respond to recommendations by 10 October 2025 HM Government and/or the Department and where appropriate the Post Office and Fujitsu shall provide written responses to my recommendations by 10 …	Department for Business and Trade	Accepted	View →
POH-2	Define and publish meaning of full and fair financial redress The Minister and/or the Department in conjunction with the Post Office shall make a public announcement explaining what is meant by the …	Department for Business and Trade	Accepted	View →
POH-3	Apply full and fair meaning consistently across all schemes The Post Office, the Department and the Minister shall ensure that all decision makers in HSS, GLOS and OCS/HCRS apply the meaning …	Department for Business and Trade	Accepted	View →
POH-4	Fund legal advice for HSS claimants before scheme choice All claimants in HSS shall be entitled to obtain legal advice funded by the Department prior to choosing between accepting the Fixed …	Department for Business and Trade	Accepted in Part	View →
POH-5	Allow 3-month window to accept Fixed Sum Offer after assessment Any claimant who opts to have a claim assessed when the claim is submitted to the Post Office or the Department may …	Department for Business and Trade	Accepted	View →
POH-6	Appoint senior lawyer to ensure HSS offers are full and fair A suitably qualified senior lawyer shall be appointed to HSS as soon as is practicable with the aim that any such appointee …	Department for Business and Trade	Accepted	View →
POH-7	Grant appropriate powers to HSS senior lawyer The appointed person shall be given appropriate powers to ensure that these tasks can be performed and carried into effect. If it …	Department for Business and Trade	Accepted	View →
POH-8	Require HSS first offers match Independent Advisory Panel recommendation In HSS the Post Office shall be obliged to make, and the Department shall be obliged to approve (when necessary) a first …	Department for Business and Trade	Accepted	View →
POH-9	Allow HSS Fixed Sum acceptors to appeal with independent permission The Department following consultation with the Advisory Board, claimants' representatives and any other persons or bodies it thinks appropriate, shall give urgent …	Department for Business and Trade	Accepted	View →
POH-10	Clarify best offer principle in HSSA guidance with examples The Department shall issue a supplementary document/announcement clarifying the meaning and intent of the "best offer" principle in the Horizon Shortfall Scheme …	Department for Business and Trade	Accepted	View →
POH-11	Apply best offer principle equally in GLOS The "best offer" principle which will apply in HSSA, as explained in response to Recommendation 10, shall be equally applicable in GLOS.	Department for Business and Trade	Accepted	View →
POH-12	Amend GLOS to allow claimants oral submissions at panel hearings The scheme documents governing GLOS should be amended so that a right is conferred upon claimants (exercisable by the claimants themselves or …	Department for Business and Trade	Accepted	View →
POH-13	Close HSS Dispute Resolution Procedure when HSSA opens The current Dispute Resolution Procedure in HSS should be closed once all claimants currently within the Procedure have either (a) settled their …	Department for Business and Trade	Not Accepted	View →
POH-14	Post Office to engage in negotiations during HSSA appeal period During the nine-month period afforded to claimants to submit an appeal to the Department in HSSA, the Post Office shall engage in …	Department for Business and Trade	Accepted	View →
POH-15	Set deadline for HSS claims with guidance on late applications No claims for financial redress under HSS shall be entertained after midnight 27 November 2025.	Department for Business and Trade	Accepted in Part	View →
POH-16	Clarify whether HCRS and OCS assessment processes differ The Department shall make a public announcement in which (a) it clarifies whether there will be any differences in the process for …	Department for Business and Trade	Accepted	View →
POH-17	Establish standing public body to administer future redress schemes As soon as is reasonably practicable, HM Government shall establish a standing public body which shall, when called upon to do so, …	Department for Business and Trade	Under Consideration	View →
POH-18	Devise redress process for affected family members The Department shall devise a process for providing financial redress to close family members of those most adversely affected by Horizon. Such …	Department for Business and Trade	Accepted	View →
POH-19	Publish restorative justice programme by 31 October 2025 By 31 October 2025, the Department, Fujitsu and the Post Office shall publish, either separately or together, a report outlining any agreed …	Department for Business and Trade	Accepted	View →
POH-IR1-1	Allow Advisory Board to monitor individual compensation cases The Horizon Compensation Advisory Board should not be prevented from monitoring individual cases in which compensation has been or is to be …	Department for Business and Trade	Accepted in Part	View →
POH-IR1-2	Publish Advisory Board meeting reports within 21 days The Horizon Compensation Advisory Board shall produce written reports in respect of each of their meetings in relation to each of the …	Department for Business and Trade	Accepted	View →
POH-IR1-3	Make monitoring full and fair compensation a core Board duty It must be one of the core duties of the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board that it monitors whether compensation payments are full …	Department for Business and Trade	Accepted in Part	View →
POH-IR1-4	Increase Advisory Board membership if needed for capacity If the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board considers it necessary, the number of persons appointed to the Board should be increased so as …	Department for Business and Trade	Accepted	View →
POH-IR1-5	Seek court directions for GLO compensation in bankruptcy cases DBT shall take such steps as are necessary within 28 days of the publication of this report to seek appropriate directions under …	Department for Business and Trade	Accepted	View →
POH-IR1-6	Publish proposals for equal tax treatment of compensation payments DBT shall publish within 28 days of the publication of this report its proposals for ensuring that applicants to all schemes are …	Department for Business and Trade	Accepted	View →
POH-IR1-7	Amend Limitation Act to extend GLO deadline if needed HM Government shall bring forward as soon as possible legislation amending section 11(3)(a) of the Limitation Act 1980 to allow payments of …	Department for Business and Trade	Accepted in Part	View →
POH-IR1-8	Set agreed closing date for Horizon Shortfall Scheme applications No applications for compensation to the Horizon Shortfall Scheme shall be entertained after such date as shall be agreed by the Minister, …	Department for Business and Trade	Accepted in Part	View →

Parliamentary activity

34 mentions since Jan 2022

2 debates 26 questions

11 Nov 2025 Written Question Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry
Dr Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat)

13 Oct 2025 Written Question Fujitsu: Contracts
John Milne (Liberal Democrat)

17 Jul 2025 Hansard Debate Post Office Horizon Inquiry: Volume 1

14 Jul 2025 Written Question Procurement: Standards
Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour)

View all 34 mentions →

Costs

Total: £80,000,000

Period	Total	Inquiry legal	CP legal	Source
Mar 2026 (cum.)	£80,000,000	£24,455,048	£15,904,255	link
Mar 2025	£26,017,032	£8,738,949	£5,202,243	link
Mar 2024	£26,770,510	£8,373,766	£6,150,587	link
Mar 2023	£18,491,383	£5,717,654	£3,905,857	link
Mar 2022	£3,087,287	£1,492,280	£645,569	link
Mar 2021	£360,345	£132,399	—	link