The Post Office has been unable to find evidence to support approximately 1,400 claims for redress, leaving many individuals in a state of uncertainty similar to a year ago.
Despite reaching out to affected subpostmasters involved in the Post Office Horizon scandal and urging them to seek redress, the Post Office has struggled to find evidence of losses in numerous cases.
This issue is not new. Over a year ago, Computer Weekly reported that over 1,000 former subpostmasters were seeking compensation, despite the Post Office’s inability to attribute Horizon errors to the financial shortfalls.
Back in April 2025, the government acknowledged the problem and pledged to address it. A spokesperson from the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) stated, “Each case is handled individually, and we are working to provide affected claimants with guidance on the next steps as soon as possible.”
Most of these cases date back to pre-2005, a period for which the Post Office’s record-keeping is lacking.
One claimant, still awaiting redress, disclosed to Computer Weekly that there are now 1,400 cases where evidence cannot be located.
News of Parmod Kalia, a victim of the scandal who passed away before receiving full redress, serves as another example of delayed and denied justice. Kalia, who was wrongfully convicted of financial crimes and subsequently exonerated in May 2021, was one of many claimants seeking a £75,000 fixed payment under the Post Office’s Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS).
Out of the 9,505 “eligible late claims” submitted to the HSS, primarily following ITV’s coverage of the Post Office scandal, the government has made 8,100 offers, with 7,294 claims already settled.
Calum Greenhow, CEO of the National Federation of Subpostmasters (NFSP), emphasized that the burden should not be on subpostmasters to prove losses caused by Horizon, but rather on the Post Office to demonstrate otherwise.
Contacted but not compensated
A claimant informed Computer Weekly that they were prompted by the Post Office in 2024 to file a claim but, over a year later, their claim remains unsettled due to lack of evidence.
Many cases trace back to the early days of Horizon’s implementation in 1999, presenting challenges in locating supporting evidence.
The Business and Trade Select Committee previously proposed enhancements to compensation schemes to provide claimants with greater benefit of the doubt, but these suggestions were dismissed by the government.
In April 2025, committee chair Liam Byrne MP expressed concern over delayed justice for former subpostmasters in the aftermath of the scandal.
Additionally, there are demands for legislative actions to overturn convictions based on the Post Office’s flawed Capture system, akin to the measures taken for those convicted of financial crimes linked to Horizon.
Individuals seeking exoneration must demonstrate their use of the software from the 1990s, with 29 appeals currently under review by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC).
Former subpostmasters like Steve Marston, convicted in 1997, are anxiously awaiting decisions on their appeals, amidst a slow and contested process by the Post Office.
The Post Office Horizon scandal, initially uncovered by Computer Weekly in 2009, shed light on the challenges faced by subpostmasters due to accounting software issues.
