Horizon IT scandal compensation scheme set up for families of victims

Close relatives of affected post office operators will be able to make claim over harm scandal caused families

Family members of post office operators affected by the Horizon IT scandal will be able to claim compensation under a new government scheme.

Campaigners have lobbied for compensation in relation to the harm the scandal has caused to the mental health and wellbeing of close relatives, who have not been eligible under the redress schemes being run by the Post Office and the government.

In 2024, Gareth Thomas, then the postal minister, told the public inquiry into the scandal that the government was looking at “gaps” in eligibility criteria relating to family member claims.

Wyn Williams, the chair of the inquiry, recommended that a scheme for family members be put in place when he published the first volume of his report on the scandal last year.

On Thursday, Blair McDougall, the minister for postal affairs, said: “The Horizon scandal caused immeasurable harm – not just to the postmasters wrongly accused of crimes, but to their families who stood beside and suffered alongside them.

“Today’s scheme recognises that harm and will make sure those families receive the support they deserve, as quickly and simply as possible. We have listened carefully to those affected and designed this scheme to reach as many people as we can without putting unnecessary barriers in their way.”

The scandal has been labelled the worst miscarriage of justice in UK history.

Responding to criticism of the difficulty post office operators continue to face in providing evidence to make successful claims, and the bureaucratic process of the existing schemes, the government is providing two options for family members to make a claim.

Family members who can provide evidence of personal injury, or who have a medical condition arising from the Horizon scandal, can choose to apply for a fully assessed personal injury claim, with compensation judged case bycase.

For those who cannot provide this level of documentation, the government is offering an “events-based” route, whereby a relative of a branch owner operator who experienced one of the most serious consequences of the scandal – such as criminal prosecution or bankruptcy – can be given a fixed-rate payment without having to provide further evidence of personal harm.

While the government did not provide an exact figure for the payment, it gave guidance in a letter to the founders of Lost Chances, the charity set up to support the families and dependents affected by the faulty IT system.

In the letter, the government acknowledged that the “recognition payments” would be less than an evidence-based personal injury claim. “However, given the evidential problems, the alternative would have been to give them no compensation at all,” McDougall said in the letter.

McDougall said one potential comparator for the appropriate level of recognition payment being considered was the £15,120 that relatives were entitled to under the Fatal Accidents Act 1976 in the event of wrongful death.

The Conservative peer James Arbuthnot, who sits on the independent Horizon compensation advisory board, said: “I welcome the government’s proposals to provide redress to the family members of Horizon postmasters, many of whom suffered immeasurable harm because of this dreadful saga. Whilst the wrongs of the Horizon scandal cannot be undone, this scheme will help to give family members the recognition that they deserve.”

As of 31 January, approximately £1.44bn has been paid in compensation to more than 11,300 claimants across the four schemes being run.

About 1,000 post office operators were prosecuted by the Post Office between 1999 and 2015 because of faulty Horizon accounting software that made it look as if they had been committing fraud.