Close HSS Dispute Resolution Procedure when HSSA opens
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 current Dispute Resolution Procedure in HSS should be closed once all claimants currently within the Procedure have either (a) settled their claims or (b) transferred to HSSA. No claimant who is not in the Dispute Resolution Procedure when HSSA opens should be eligible to join the Dispute Resolution Procedure.
Post Office Horizon Inquiry, Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry: Final Report · 8 Jul 2025 Source PDF →
Response — verbatim from government
●Department for Business and Trade
Department for Business and Trade rejects this recommendation as it conflicts with the principle of providing "full and fair" redress. Postmasters should retain the choice between continuing with the dispute resolution procedure or transferring to HSSA based on their individual circumstances and with the benefit of funded legal advice. No claimant should be forced to abandon an existing process.
Department for Business and Trade · 9 Oct 2025 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
- 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 →
- 13 Mar 2026 · Business and Trade Committee HC 1598 HC 1598 noted the government's rejection of this recommendation. The committee did not challenge the rejection directly but concluded the broader HSS process is dysfunctional, with Post Office Ltd's continued central role in administering redress undermining trust in the system. View source → Mixed Findings
- 6 Jan 2026 · Business and Trade Select Committee Business and Trade Select Committee noted the government rejected this recommendation. DBT stated that closing the Dispute Resolution Procedure would conflict with the principle of providing "full and fair" redress. Claimants in the DRP continued to be able to use it. View source → Not Implemented
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.
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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.