The Post Office Horizon IT scandal inflicted a “disastrous” impact on those wrongfully accused and prosecuted for criminal offenses, according to the first report from the official inquiry into the matter.
Sir Wyn Williams’s report reveals the extensive suffering endured by hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongly prosecuted over alleged shortfalls in their branch accounts, as well as the impact on others affected.
The report indicates that at least 59 individuals contemplated suicide at various points, with 10 attempting to take their own lives, and more than 13 potentially died by suicide due to the scandal.
The Post Office has issued an “unreserved” apology and pledged to carefully consider the report’s findings.
This initial volume of Sir Wyn’s report concentrates on the human impact of the scandal, in addition to addressing issues surrounding compensation.
The inquiry found that victims experienced divorces, severe mental health issues, and alcohol addiction as a result of their ordeals.
“A number of persons said they could not sleep at night without drinking first. One postmistress said she ‘went to rehab for eight months as the Post Office had turned her to drink to cope with the losses,'” Sir Wyn noted.
The report puts forward a series of urgent recommendations, including:
Sir Wyn also critiqued the “formidable difficulties” surrounding the delivery of financial redress for victims, which is currently organized around three different schemes.
He criticized the pace of compensation, stating that for many claimants, it has not been delivered “promptly.”
Discussing one scheme for those who experienced unexplained shortfalls related to Horizon but were not convicted, Sir Wyn stated: “I am persuaded that in difficult and substantial claims, on too many occasions, the Post Office and its advisors have adopted an unnecessarily adversarial attitude towards making initial offers.”
According to the report, 10,000 eligible individuals are currently claiming redress, and Sir Wyn anticipates that number to increase by “at least hundreds” in the coming months.
He urged the government to publicly define “full and fair financial redress” and recommended changes to some of the schemes.
Sir Wyn will examine the causes of the scandal and identify those responsible in a future report.
However, in this initial part, he expressed his satisfaction that senior employees of the Post Office were aware, or should have been aware, that an older version of the Horizon software was capable of producing false data.
He noted that a number of Post Office and Fujitsu employees knew a later version of the software had “bugs, errors, and defects” that could impact branch accounts.
Sir Wyn has requested that the government respond to his findings no later than October 2025.
The government has announced that some family members of Horizon victims will be eligible for compensation.
Post Office minister Gareth Thomas stated that the scheme would be open “to close family members of existing Horizon claimants who themselves suffered personal injury – including psychological distress – because of their relative’s suffering.”
However, he added that the government would require written evidence of that injury made at the time “other than in exceptional circumstances.”
He acknowledged that devising such a scheme “raises some very difficult issues.”
“Nonetheless, we want to look after those family members who suffered most,” he affirmed.
A Post Office spokesperson stated: “The Inquiry has brought to life the devastating stories of those impacted by the Horizon Scandal. Their experiences represent a shameful period in our history.”
“Today, we apologize unreservedly for the suffering which Post Office caused to postmasters and their loved ones. We will carefully consider the report and its recommendations.”
The report also provided details regarding the legal costs of the various compensation schemes to date.
Newly released government figures indicate that the total legal costs paid for the “operational delivery of Horizon redress schemes” have reached £100m.
For their work on the Horizon Shortfall Scheme up to December 2, 2024, the law firm Herbert Smith Freehills received £67m from the Post Office.
Post Office campaigner and former sub-postmaster Jo Hamilton described it as “just mad” that the government is “spending millions on lawyers to pull the claims apart” that they have paid for to be brought.
She characterized the report released on Tuesday as “huge” because it exposed the extent of the suffering.
She added that the investigations into who is culpable for that suffering will be “interesting”.
A key report into the Horizon IT scandal details the huge impact on sub-postmasters and their families.
Inquiry chair Sir Wyn Williams to release the first part of a report which will also examine compensation.
A total of £1.039bn has been awarded to just over 7,300 sub-postmasters, the latest figures show.
Many were wrongly prosecuted after faulty software said money was missing from their Post Office branch accounts.
Sub-postmasters look forward to the first part of a report into the Horizon IT scandal being published.