On Tuesday 6 January 2026 the Business and
Trade Committee will convene a high-level
evidence session on the continued
search for justice and accountability in the Post
Office Horizon scandal, described as the UK's most
widespread miscarriage of justice.
Sub-postmasters who were wrongfully convicted; Fujitsu the
company that supplied the Horizon accounting
software package implicated in the
thousands of wrongful prosecutions and around
a thousand wrongful convictions for fraud; the
Department of Business and Trade, and the Ministry of
Justice will appear one
year on from the Committee's major
report on delayed redress. The full line up of
witnesses for this evidence hearing will
be published here shortly.
In recognition of the terrible toll on livelihoods and lives and
decades after the original wrongful prosecutions, the
Government recently announced that police
are investigating charges of corporate manslaughter
against the Post Office. In January 2024
Fujitsu announced a self-imposed moratorium
on bidding for new Government contracts, but between
May 2024 and September it was awarded another £362
million in contracts “to ensure the continuation
of public services”, and it is expected to continue to
provide the Horizon system at the centre of the scandal
until 2027.
In March of this year the Government opened
negotiations with Fujitsu on what its contribution to financial
redress should be, with ministers citing its “moral obligation”
to pay. This will be the first time Fujitsu has been
questioned in this Parliament on its role in the
scandal.
Following the Committee's report, which found that
navigating slow, flawed redress schemes was “akin to a second
trial”
for victims, its key recommendation on ensuring
all claimants in the Horizon Shortfall Scheme have
access to free, upfront legal advice has been
implemented. There have been notable improvements in
the pace of administration of the various redress
schemes this year, but thousands of claimants are
still having their claims considered and awaiting
offers.
After decades seeking justice
and the continued delays,
there are now fresh questions about how the
MoJ has managed the process of overturning wrongful convictions
and how this has further impacted victims' access to
redress. The Committee expects to hear evidence from
sub-postmasters who have experienced this mishandling
of the review of their cases by the Ministry of
Justice.
Rt Hon MP, Chair of the Committee,
said: “The Post Office Horizon Scandal was the
largest miscarriage of justice in British history and
our Committee made a promise to
wronged sub-postmasters: that we would be grip this issue
until every single one had justice.
“For years the system failed, and innocent people
paid with their livelihoods, their reputations, and
their lives. Despite the big progress this year,
justice is still not done. Those who supplied the system at
the heart of this scandal still hold
public contracts, victims are still forced through
processes that feel like punishment all over again, and too many
wrongful convictions are still not overturned.
“This hearing is about fixing what is still broken: convictions
overturned properly and fairly, accountability for those
responsible, and redress delivered at pace. Democracy only works
when the state admits failure, enforces responsibility, and
proves — in action, not words — that justice applies to the
powerful as well as the powerless.”
