Amend GLOS to allow claimants oral submissions at panel hearings
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 scheme documents governing GLOS should be amended so that a right is conferred upon claimants (exercisable by the claimants themselves or their recognised legal representatives) to make oral submissions in support of their claim at the hearing convened by an independent panel prior to that panel making a binding determination in respect of a claimant's claim or part thereof. The length of time afforded to claimants to make such oral submissions at the hearing should be no less than the time afforded to claimants for such submissions in HSSA.
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 amending Group Litigation Order Scheme (GLOS) rules to allow claimants oral submissions. In an update of February 2026, published in March 2026, the Cabinet Office reported that claimants in the scheme already had the right to make oral submissions for up to one hour, and the panel's terms of reference had been amended to reflect this practice (Cabinet Office, Mar 2026). In January 2026, the Business and Trade Select Committee found that claimants already possessed the right to make oral submissions, concluding that the recommendation was effectively already met (Business and Trade Select Committee, Jan 2026).
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
All claimants in the GLOS already had the right to make oral submissions for up to one hour in support of their claim at the hearing convened by the independent panel. The same approach is adopted in the HSSA process. The Panel’s Terms of Reference have been amended to reflect this existing practice. They are published on GOV.UK.
Extract from: Government response to the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry report (volume 1)
Delivery
●Cabinet Office says completed · 2 Mar 2026
All claimants in the GLO scheme already had the right to make oral submissions for up to one hour in support of their claim at the hearing convened by the Independent Panel. The same approach is adopted in the HSSA process. The Panel’s Terms of Reference have been amended to reflect this existing practice. They can be found on https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/compensation-scheme-for-group-litigation-order-case-postmasters/terms-of-reference-of-the-glo-scheme-independent-panel--2
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 that GLOS claimants already had the right to make oral submissions, meaning this recommendation was in effect already satisfied.
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 →
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