Amend GLOS to allow claimants oral submissions at panel hearings
Post Office Horizon Inquiry · Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry: Final Report · Issued 8 July 2025 · Addressed to: Department for Business and Trade
Source — 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: Final Report · 8 Jul 2025 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
Publicly available evidence relating to this recommendation:
- The Department for Business and Trade accepted this recommendation on 9 October 2025, confirming that all GLOS claimants already had the right to make oral submissions for up to one hour at independent panel hearings (Government response to the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry report (volume 1), DBT, 9 October 2025).
- The Business and Trade Select Committee noted this right was already in effect prior to the recommendation (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. GLOS claimants already had the right to make oral submissions for up to one hour at independent panel hearings prior to the panel making a binding determination. The Panel Terms of Reference have been amended to formally document this existing practice. The time afforded to claimants for oral submissions is no less than that afforded in HSSA.
Department for Business and Trade · 9 Oct 2025 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
- 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 Source →
- 31 Jan 2026 Verification: Government published formal response to Volume 1 recommendations on 13 October 2025, accepting 17 of 18 recommendations. Total compensation paid across all schemes: £1.38 billion as of December 2025. Volume 2 of Final Report expected 2026. Source →
- 6 Jan 2026 · Business and Trade Select Committee 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. View source → Confirmed Completed
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.