The UK government introduced landmark legislation on Wednesday to quash the wrongful convictions of hundreds of sub-postmasters as a result of a Post Office scandal. The blanket exoneration delivered under the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill will clear the names of those convicted of fraud and theft offences because of the defective Horizon accounting system, which wrongfully flagged discrepancies and shortfalls at Post Office branches.
In addition to the quashing of criminal convictions, the affected sub-postmasters will receive an interim payment of £600,000 ($768,50) to rebuild their lives. The Bill also provides financial redress of £75,000 ($£75,000) for postmasters who were not convicted of an offence but still suffered considerably due to the failures of the installation of the Horizon system.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said:
While I know that nothing can make up for what they’ve been through, today’s legislation marks an important step forward in finally clearing their names. We owe it to the victims of this scandal who have had their lives and livelihoods callously torn apart, to deliver the justice they’ve fought so long and hard for, and to ensure nothing like this ever happens again.
The Post Office scandal, also referred to as the Horizon IT scandal, resulted in one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British history. Between 1996 and 2018, hundreds of sub-postmasters at the Post Office were prosecuted for allegedly engaging in offences such as fraud, theft and false accounting due to the faulty Horizon IT system. Private prosecutions brought by the Post Office resulted in over 700 wrongful convictions with some serving prison sentences, filing for bankruptcy, and seeing their lives and reputations destroyed. Four individuals died by suicide because of the false claims against them.
Despite issues with the system having been brought to the attention of the Post Office decades ago, the move to exonerate the sub-postmasters came primarily in response to increasing pressure on the government following public outrage at the 2024 ITV drama, “Mr. Bates vs The Post Office.” As a result, some of the affected tragically passed away before having their names cleared.
The UK’s Metropolitan Police have also announced a separate investigation into the scandal and how many individuals continued to be prosecuted despite early warnings of Horizon’s failures.
In 2015, the ex-head of the Post Office Paula Vennells told a parliamentary committee that there was no evidence that there had been any miscarriages of justice. In January, Vennells agreed to return a UK honor, Commander of the British Empire, which she was awarded in 2019 for services to the Post Office, amid growing outrage over the scandal.
