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The Post Office is to close the largest compensation scheme for post office operators affected by the Horizon scandal this weekend, leaving potentially thousands of claimants out of pocket for losses produced by the faulty IT system.
The Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS), which will close for new applicants at 11.59pm on Saturday, has received more than 9,500 submissions, according to the latest public data to 19 December.
Under the scheme, post office operators with a successful claim can receive a fixed sum of £75,000 or choose to pursue a higher amount.
Despite the looming closure of the scheme, the Post Office is still receiving hundreds of applications every month – 357 between 28 November and 19 December – according to the latest figures.
Last year, there were more than 7,000 submissions, with no fewer than 248 in any single monthly period, showing that the rate of applications continues to remain consistently high and suggesting that many eligible post office operators are likely to miss out on compensation because of the closure of the scheme.
“The number could conceivably amount to several thousands of individuals,” said Stephen Lewis, a partner at law firm Schofield Sweeney. “As with a number of lawyers, we are currently preparing applications to the HSS to meet the current deadline.
“Given the reported number of applicants that the scheme is still receiving now, there remains a significant concern that many former postmasters will be denied redress due to an arbitrarily imposed cutoff date that they may not know exists.”
The government is in the process of paying out billions of pounds in compensation over the scandal, which involved the Post Office relentlessly pursuing operators of sub-post offices across the UK for alleged theft, fraud and false accounting based on information from its Horizon IT system installed in the late 1990s.
About 3,500 branch owner-operators were wrongly accused, with more than 900 prosecuted.
The original HSS scheme launched in May 2020 and was supposed to close in November of that year. But it was then extended to the following March, due to significant concerns that many post office operators were either unaware of the scheme or were too damaged by their experience with the Post Office over Horizon to believe they would get a reasonable level of compensation. HSS was reopened in October 2022
The two HSS schemes have attracted 13,379 submissions, which account for 89% of all applications to all of the schemes run by the Post Office and the Department for Business and Trade. As of 19 December,£812m has been paid out in fully settled claims and interim payments in the HSS schemes.
Of the 7,294 claims that have been settled under the HSS scheme, 92% have opted for the simpler £75,000 fixed sum payout.
Matthew Haddow, partner and head of forensic accounting and valuation services at Menzies LLP, said that the rush to file claims – and certainty of taking £75,000 – could mean that post office operators are not settling for less than the true value of the losses they suffered.
“Our experience, borne out throughout the various schemes, is that losses go far wider than the cost of making good a shortfall,” he said. “When someone is impacted by something of this nature it is also about the impact on family, friends, trust; there are wider costs and consequences.
“The Post Office will know how many subpostmasters had the Horizon system, and how many were asked to, or did, pay shortfalls. They ought to be disclosing how many they think are affected and work out how many might be left to apply and whether the deadline is appropriate. If there are still 300 or more coming in every month the deadline isn’t going to catch everyone.”
Sir Wyn Williams, the chair of the public inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal, had suggested closing the scheme last November. However, the Post Office opted to extend that date until 31 January to remain open until after the Christmas period.
The Post Office has said that it has been promoting awareness of the closure date to post office operators, including taking out paid advertisements in national and regional media, as well as on social media, to encourage applications.
In a business and trade select committee session held earlier this month, Nigel Railton, the chair of the Post Office, and remediation director, Joanne Hanley, told MPs the company was working with the government on some “exceptions criteria” if someone had been unable to apply by the closing date.
“We are looking at exceptions and how we deal with them for the people who cannot meet the deadline date,” Railton told the committee session. “I think we are going to give people a couple of weeks’ leeway, because the deadline is obviously a hard date.”
The latest UK government figures estimate that £1.33bn has so far been paid out to more than 10,000 victims.
