The Post Office scandal public inquiry will publish the first part of its final report this summer, with its findings on compensation and the scandal’s human impact to be made public “as soon as possible”.
The inquiry, which lasted about three years, examined a scandal that went on for two decades and saw subpostmasters wrongly blamed and punished for accounting shortfalls.
It is described as the widest miscarriage of justice in UK history, and over 700 people have had wrongful convictions overturned as a result of it being fully exposed.
Computer Weekly first revealed the Horizon problems in 2009, and has been investigating ever since, including detailed reporting of the inquiry since it began hearing evidence in May 2022.
Inquiry chair Wyn Williams, who today made the announcement, said: “Throughout my investigations, I have heard how people have faced unimaginable hardship due to the impacts of the Horizon scandal, from wrongful convictions and financial ruin to broken relationships and severe emotional distress. I have also held several compensation hearings, which have stressed the urgency for people to receive redress that is full, fair and prompt.”
He added that the people affected by the scandal should be at the heart of the inquiry’s work. “It seems fitting that my conclusions on the suffering endured by so many, as well as the issue of redress, should be at the forefront of my report and published as soon as feasibly possible,” said Williams.
After a High Court victory in 2019, when subpostmasters proved the Horizon computer system they used was to blame for unexplained losses, the first thing campaigner Alan Bates, now Sir Alan, said to Computer Weekly was that he wanted a statutory public inquiry into the scandal. He got it in May 2021, when a government inquiry into the scandal was made statutory.
When originally set up as a government department inquiry without the power to call witnesses, there was outrage and accusations of whitewashing. But following pressure from subpostmasters and their supporters, the inquiry was put on a statutory footing, with a judge in charge and the power to call witnesses to give evidence.
The inquiry was split into seven phases.
The human impact hearings were shocking, revealing the extreme suffering of people at the hands of the Post Office. Other phases have revealed that the Post Office had knowledge that the Horizon software had bugs when rolled out, prosecution witnesses changed their statements when prompted by the Post Office, and lawyers hid evidence during trials of subpostmasters because it would have made their prosecutions unsafe. It has also featured directors, politicians and civil servants who, whether deliberately or not, contributed to the cover-up.
Following Williams’ announcement, Sir Alan Bates said bringing forward the findings involving financial redress was vital. “It is good that things will start to appear, albeit in sections,” he said.
“The chair is right in his comments because it is the priority in all this,” said Bates. “I just hope it helps bring swift resolution to all the outstanding problems. We have to find, one way or another, a way of getting [financial redress] done.”
The Post Office scandal was first exposed by Computer Weekly in 2009, revealing the stories of seven subpostmasters and the problems they suffered due to Horizon accounting software, which led to the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British history.
