Minister for Small Businesses and Economic Transformation (): On 8 July last year, my
predecessor announced the Government's intention to launch a
redress scheme for postmasters' family members who were most
severely affected by the Horizon scandal. This statement provides
further information to the House about the form, scope and
eligibility criteria of the scheme. Whilst the scheme remains
focussed on personal injury, we have made significant changes
that will make it easier for more family members to qualify for
redress.
This scheme follows the Government's acceptance of recommendation
18 in Volume 1 of the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry report (that
financial redress should be provided to close family members of
those most adversely impacted by the Horizon scandal), and of
similar recommendations made by the Horizon Compensation Advisory
Board.
Over the past months, my officials and I have been working with
stakeholders, including the Lost Chances group, Horizon redress
claimants' lawyers and the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board,
to develop a fair approach to redress which recognises the
difficulties that some people may find in providing evidence of
the harm which they have suffered. In doing so, we have drawn on
lessons from other government schemes to ensure that this scheme
delivers timely, accessible support, whilst minimising the
potentially re-traumatising impact of a lengthy claim process.
The outline scheme announced by my predecessor focussed on
personal injury – which in many cases we expect to mean damage to
mental health. That earlier version of the scheme would only have
allowed applications to be made based on contemporaneous evidence
of medical issues or a fresh assessment of an ongoing medical
condition arising from Horizon.
Stakeholders have told us that very few people would be able to
provide this type of evidence. In response, we have created an
alternative route to redress for people whose postmaster
relatives faced some of the most stressful specific consequences
of the Horizon scandal (such as prosecution or bankruptcy) and
were therefore more likely to have experienced significant harm.
So long as we can confirm the event experienced by the claimant's
postmaster relative, we will not require them to evidence any
further harm.
Because we are not asking such claimants for specific evidence of
any harm for events-based claims, we cannot differentiate between
claims. We will therefore offer flat-rate “recognition payments”
to people who claim through this route. This simple approach may
result in some individuals receiving an amount that differs from
what they would have been awarded following the assessment of a
personal injury claim. However, given the evidential problems,
the alternative would have been to give them no compensation at
all. Those who do have evidence will still be able to apply for
an assessed personal injury claim and provide contemporaneous
evidence of medical issues arising from Horizon, or a fresh
assessment for any ongoing medical condition, as outlined by my
predecessor.
I believe this enhanced scheme for family members is the best
approach, striking the right balance between a low evidence
approach and an individual personal injury assessment to meet our
original promise – and Sir Wyn Williams's recommendation – to
support family members of those most severely affected by the
Horizon scandal.
I have today written to the Lost Chances group setting out
details of our proposals. I am placing a copy of my letter in the
Libraries of both Houses, and have copied it to the Chair of the
Business and Trade Select Committee.
The letter is published at this link:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/horizon-family-members-redress-scheme(opens
in a new tab).
Restorative Justice
The department's response to Volume 1 of the report of the Post
Office Horizon IT Inquiry announced that with the Post Office and
Fujitsu we had jointly embarked on a restorative justice project
for postmasters, facilitated by the Restorative Justice Council
(RJC). On 31 October 2025 the RJC published a report on the pilot
phase of that programme, which set out what postmasters wanted
from a restorative justice programme. They have continued to
engage with postmasters in the intervening period.
The RJC is today publishing a second report which gives a further
account of many postmasters' terrible experiences of the impacts
of this scandal, considers how a restorative justice programme
can help, and describes what will now be delivered. As was always
our intention, the programme is very much postmaster-led.
The department, the Post Office and Fujitsu have agreed to
support the programme both financially and practically for up to
five years initially. Responsibility for funding will be shared
between the three organisations. Fujitsu's financing of the
programme is separate from their contribution to compensation,
which will be agreed once the Inquiry has reported.
