Post Office boss offers heartfelt apology to victims of 'shocking' Horizon IT scandal

However, in December 2019, a High Court judge ruled that the system contained a number of “bugs, errors and defects” and there was a “material risk” that shortfalls in Post Office branch accounts were in fact caused by it. Of those prosecuted in connection with Horizon IT, 131 have completed the appeals process to date, with 83 convictions overturned and 48 appeals unsuccessful, according to the Post Office. In addition there are some cases which were prosecuted by other bodies such as the CPS. Three convictions have been overturned in these cases.

Simon Recaldin, the Post Office’s Remediation Unit Director, told The Yorkshire Post: “My message to the victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal is one of complete empathy and heartfelt apology. Our CEO Nick Read has made himself available to come and see the victims face to face. He has already met postmasters affected by the scandal in Manchester, Liverpool and Northern Ireland. He is due to meet postmasters affected by the Horizon IT scandal in Leeds later this year (on October 27).

"This is all part of the healing journey and remediation process. We want to put things right and place people back in the financial position they would have been if the Horizon IT scandal hadn't happened. What we've done to these people was awful. This is all part of moving away from the culture of the past. The Post Office is a great institution and postmasters are regarded as pillars of society. For this institution to do this to them was shocking and wrong."

Mr Recaldin said that, with regards to the Horizon Shortfall Scheme, compensation offers have been made to 2,410 current or former postmasters which is 99.7 per cent of those who came forward when the scheme was first opened in 2020.

Of these 215, or 8.9 per cent, are based in Yorkshire. A total of 176 of these Yorkshire-based victims have accepted the compensation offer, which is 82 per cent. Across the UK 83 per cent of the victims connected to the Horizon Shortfall Scheme have accepted the offer. The average offer being made to former or present postmasters in Yorkshire by the Post Office in connection with the Horizon Shortfall scheme is around £40,000.

The shortfall scheme relates to cases where a discrepancy in the postmasters' accounts was found that may have been due to failures in the Horizon IT system and the postmasters had to make up this discrepancy out of their own pockets.So far around £8.5m has been paid to victims affected by the scandal through the Horizon Shortfall Scheme in Yorkshire, and due to Government action, tax deducted on these compensation payments will be paid back, which means the total will be higher. As of July 27 2023, the Post Office had offered more than £120m across the Horizon Shortfall Scheme (£100m offered, £73m paid) and the Overturned Convictions Scheme (£20.9m). The Government paid out an additional £19m in interim compensation under the Group Litigation Scheme by April 6 2023.

The Post Office is working with seven law firms and legal representatives who are acting on behalf of individual postmasters with overturned convictions to agree remediation principles and processes to help enable claims not yet received by the Post Office to be made more quickly.