A new campaign group has launched for former subpostmasters in Scotland who were affected by the Post Office Horizon IT scandal.

The Horizon scandal sent shockwaves through Britain’s postal service and government, exposing systemic failures that led to the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of subpostmasters. The miscarriage of justice left profound scars, devastating victims’ mental health and financial security.

The group, called the Scottish Postmasters for Justice and Redress, will launch on 2 April 2025 at the Scottish Parliament, lead by former subpostmaster Rab Thomson who face a wrongful conviction as a result of the scandal, which was overturned after 22 years.

The group is also open to former users of Capture, an accounting software used by the Post Office, and ECCO+,  a software used in the Post Office in the 90s who may have dealt with consequences due to their faults.

The group aims to support subpostmasters who are appealing their convictions, or who have paid money to the Post Office to cover losses computed in the system, as well as subpostmasters who were affected in other ways.

Last year, England and Wales introduced a law that would exonerate many of the subpostmasters who were convicted for post office losses where Horizon data was used as the basis of evidence. Following this, 700 former subpostmasters had their convictions overturned.

The Scottish Parliament issued a similar law in May of last year – as the legal system differs in Scotland, and the Procurator Fiscal prosecuted defendants rather the Post Office, a different law was required.

Since then, 64 out of the 97 convicted subpostmasters that have come forward have seen their convictions overturned. 86 of these have so far been assessed, while 22 have been rejected and the remaining 11 are still being assessed.

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• Wrongful Horizon IT Scandal Convictions to Be Quashed
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• Scots Horizon Sub-postmasters to Be Exonerated Under New Bill
• Scots Horizon Sub-postmasters Exonerated

Cabinet secretary for justice and home affairs Angela Constance, who submitted the Scottish legislation, welcomed news of the group, saying: “I very much welcome this event and the continuing need to raise awareness of the UK government redress schemes for victims of the Post Office miscarriages of justice scandal.

“The Scottish government continues to encourage anyone who considers they suffered an injustice to come forward. There is no time limit under the legislation and the Scottish government will always look into any cases where people give their name as a possible miscarriage of justice case.

“Redress is the responsibility of the UK government, and I am keen everyone who is entitled to it can access it. This event is a reminder of the need to help victims navigate through what has been and remains a traumatic experience, and I pay tribute to the work of all those involved in establishing the Scottish Postmasters for Justice and Redress Group.”

The group aims to provide a space to defend subpostmasters who may struggle with the burden of coming forward about their convictions.

The group is encouraging interested people or those with relevant experiences to join the group or come forward.