Allow Advisory Board to monitor individual compensation cases
Post Office Horizon Inquiry · First Interim Report: Compensation · Issued 17 July 2023 · Addressed to: Department for Business and Trade
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
The Horizon Compensation Advisory Board should not be prevented from monitoring individual cases in which compensation has been or is to be determined by paragraph 4 of its Terms of Reference.
Post Office Horizon Inquiry, First Interim Report: Compensation · 17 Jul 2023 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
Publicly available evidence relating to this recommendation:
- The Horizon Compensation Advisory Board has published quarterly reports on its monitoring activities, including monitoring individual cases (Horizon Compensation Advisory Board published reports, ongoing).
- The Business and Trade Select Committee heard evidence confirming the Advisory Board was performing this monitoring function (Business and Trade Select Committee evidence session, January 2026).
Response — verbatim from government
●Department for Business and Trade
Department for Business and Trade accepts this recommendation in part. The Horizon Compensation Advisory Board shall consider whether "full and fair compensation is being paid out to applicants under the 3 schemes" and shall advise the Minister at 3-monthly intervals. The Board's Terms of Reference have been updated to reflect this monitoring role.
Department for Business and Trade · 21 Sep 2023 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
- 31 Jan 2026 Verification: Interim report recommendations largely implemented through Post Office (Horizon System) Compensation Act 2024 and scheme operational changes. HSS closing date set as 31 January 2026. Sir Gary Hickinbottom appointed to oversee scheme fairness. Source →
- 21 Sep 2023 · Department for Business and Trade Government response: Accepted in part. Department for Business and Trade accepts this recommendation in part. The Horizon Compensation Advisory Board shall consider whether "full and fair compensation is being paid out to applicants under ... Source →
- 1 Jan 2026 · Horizon Compensation Advisory Board The Horizon Compensation Advisory Board has published quarterly reports on its monitoring of individual cases. Business and Trade Select Committee heard from the Board at its January 2026 session on whether it was able to monitor effectively. View source → Reasonable Progress
Each entry above links to a primary source — gov.uk written statement, consultation response document, or inspection report. The Index does not characterise government intent; it tracks what has been published.
How this page is built
Source and Response are verbatim from primary documents. The Evidence trail records published activity since — written statements, consultation outcomes, inspection findings, parliamentary references. The Index does not paraphrase or characterise intent; it tracks what has been published. Where the evidence is the absence of action (a missed deadline, a slipped timetable), that absence is documented from primary sources rather than inferred.
This recommendation's data is verified periodically against primary sources. The Index is monitored for staleness weekly.