Increase Advisory Board membership if needed for capacity
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
If the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board considers it necessary, the number of persons appointed to the Board should be increased so as to ensure that the Board has sufficient capacity to perform the functions set out above.
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 had not required expansion as of January 2026, and DBT confirmed it would keep the case under review (Horizon Compensation Advisory Board, January 2026).
Response — verbatim from government
●Department for Business and Trade
Department for Business and Trade accepts this recommendation. The Department will keep under review the case for expanding the Board, in discussion with its current members, to ensure it has sufficient capacity to fulfil its duties.
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. Department for Business and Trade accepts this recommendation. The Department will keep under review the case for expanding the Board, in discussion with its current members, to ensure it has sufficie... Source →
- 1 Jan 2026 · Horizon Compensation Advisory Board The Horizon Compensation Advisory Board had not required expansion as of January 2026. DBT confirmed it would keep the case for expanding the Board under review in discussion with the Board itself. 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.