Require HSS first offers match Independent Advisory Panel recommendation
Post Office Horizon Inquiry · Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry: Volume 1 Report · Issued 8 July 2025 · Addressed to: Department for Business and Trade
Government responsePost Office Ltd: Accepted (Oct 2025)Department for Business and Trade: Accepted (Oct 2025)
DeliveryCabinet Office says completed (Mar 2026)
Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
In HSS the Post Office shall be obliged to make, and the Department shall be obliged to approve (when necessary) a first offer to a claimant which is no less than the sum recommended by the Independent Advisory Panel.
Post Office Horizon Inquiry, Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry: Volume 1 Report · 8 Jul 2025 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
AI-generated evidence summary
The Inquiry recommended that Historical Shortfall Scheme (HSS) first offers match panel recommendations. In a February 2026 update published in March 2026, the Cabinet Office reported that no first offer has ever been made below the sum recommended by the HSS Panel and claimants are informed of this upon receipt of their offer (Cabinet Office, Mar 2026). In January 2026, the Business and Trade Select Committee heard that no first offer had been made below panel recommendations, meaning retroactive enforcement had not been needed (Business and Trade Select Committee, Jan 2026). The Department for Business and Trade stated in October 2025 that scheme documents had been amended to reflect this requirement (Department for Business and Trade response, Oct 2025).
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 5 Oct 2026.
Government response
●Post Office Ltd · Accepted · 9 Oct 2025
Post Office has always made first offers to claimants that are no less than the sum recommended by the Independent Advisory Panel for HSS and will continue to do so.
●Department for Business and Trade · Accepted · 9 Oct 2025
This does not require any retrospective changes because no first offer has ever been made which is less than the sum recommended by the HSS Panel. The scheme documents have been amended to reflect this.
Extract from: Government response to the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry report (volume 1)
Delivery
●Cabinet Office says completed · 2 Mar 2026
No first offer has ever been made which is less than the sum recommended by the HSS Panel. Claimants are informed of this upon receipt of their offer.
From: Post Office (Horizon) Inquiry Recommendations Dashboard, February 2026 (data file)
Published evidence
●Business and Trade Select Committee · 6 Jan 2026
Business and Trade Select Committee heard that no first offer had ever been made in HSS below the sum recommended by the Panel, meaning the requirement in this recommendation had not needed to be enforced retroactively.
Read the finding in full
Business and Trade Committee held an evidence session on 6 January 2026 with witnesses from Fujitsu, the CCRC, DBT and MoJ. The CCRC revealed Horizon software may have been installed earlier than previously believed, potentially expanding the pool of eligible convictions. Over 4,000 claimants were still awaiting final settlement across all schemes at that date. Government accepted only 3 of 17 committee recommendations in full.Business and Trade Committee evidence session, 6 January 2026View source →
How this page is built
The recommendation and the government responses are verbatim from primary documents. Delivery statements and other bodies' findings are shown in their own words, each with its source. The summary is written by this site and labelled as such. The Index does not paraphrase sources or characterise intent; it records what has been published.