Clarify best offer principle in HSSA guidance with examples
Post Office Horizon Inquiry · Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry: Volume 1 Report · Issued 8 July 2025 · Addressed to: Department for Business and Trade
Government responseDepartment for Business and Trade: Accepted (Oct 2025)
DeliveryCabinet Office says completed (Mar 2026)
Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
The Department shall issue a supplementary document/announcement clarifying the meaning and intent of the "best offer" principle in the Horizon Shortfall Scheme Appeal (''HSSA'') process demonstrating how it is intended to operate in practice with appropriate examples, if thought necessary.
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 clarifying the best offer principle within scheme appeal guidance. In a February 2026 dashboard update published in March 2026, the Cabinet Office reported that the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) had updated the existing Horizon Shortfall Scheme Appeal (HSSA) guidance and principles (Cabinet Office, Mar 2026). In January 2026, the Business and Trade Select Committee noted that the department had updated the guidance to clarify the principle as required (Business and Trade Select Committee, Jan 2026). In its October 2025 response, the department stated it had updated the guidance and would coordinate the principle across compensation schemes (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
●Department for Business and Trade · Accepted · 9 Oct 2025
DBT has updated the existing HSSA guidance and principles with this additional information. In line with Recommendation 11, DBT will also co-ordinate the planned “best offer” principle in the panel stages of HSSA with that adopted in GLO, enhancing consistency across the schemes.
Extract from: Government response to the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry report (volume 1)
Delivery
●Cabinet Office says completed · 2 Mar 2026
DBT has updated the existing HSSA guidance and principles with this additional information.
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 noted DBT updated the HSSA guidance to clarify the "best offer" principle as required by this recommendation.
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.