Postmasters who sued the Post Office over the Horizon accounting scandal are set to receive £19.5 million as part of an interim compensation package.

The funds will provide compensation for people who brought the initial suit against the Post Office, who received compensation back in 2019, but lost much of it due to legal costs.

Horizon is accountancy software created by Fujitsu that was adopted by the Post Office back in 1999 to record day-to-day financial transactions.

A series of financial discrepancies began creeping into various Post Office branches’ accounts. This led to accusations of false accounting and theft against people working in the branches, even leading to imprisonment.

However, they blamed the discrepancies on coding errors, bugs and defects in Horizon.

This led to a civil action against the Post Office in the High Court in late 2018, with six lead claimants leading the suit as part of a wider group of 550 former and current sub-postmasters. They claimed that the errors resulted in some sub-postmasters losing their homes, suffering ill health or declaring bankruptcy from having to repay vast sums of money.

In addition, they claimed that the Post Office unfairly prosecuted them to cover up Horizons short-comings.

The case was prolonged due to a series of contractual difficulties. The Post Office argued that the matter could no longer be pursued due to too much time passing. It also said that settlements had been reached with some claimants.

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While several postmasters who had taken the first legal action against the Post Office received £43 million plus legal costs in a settlement back in 2019, much of this money was swallowed up by the associated costs of funding their case. In addition, they were ineligible for the Historical Shortfall Scheme (HSS) that was subsequently set up to compensate other affected postmasters.

The Government created the new compensation package to ensure these people will not be left out.

Postal Affairs Minister Paul Scully said: “These postmasters and their families have shown immense courage in the face of terrible circumstances.

“I hope this initial step provides some comfort to these pioneering postmasters while reaffirming our commitment to ensuring they receive their fair share in compensation.”

As of 23 June, 1,550 (65% of) eligible claimants to the HSS have now received an offer. Minister Scully has set the Post Office the ambition to make 100% of HSS offers by the end of 2022.

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