The government has announced the closing date for the financial redress scheme for subpostmasters who were part of the successful High Court action against the Post Office.
From the end of July, the scheme will be closed to new applications, with the government aiming to end the scheme by 31 December.
The Group Litigation Order (GLO) scheme was for subpostmasters that won the landmark case against the Post Office in 2019, which proved that errors in the computer system they used in branches cause account discrepancies they were blamed for. These were members of the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA).
Read: Post Office Horizon scandal explained: Everything you need to know
Post Office minister Blair McDougall said: “The postmasters in the GLO group were the first to lead the charge for justice, and they deserve to see this chapter closed with the full and fair redress they are owed.
“Setting these deadlines is about making sure that happens. We are 90% of the way there, and I am determined that the remaining claims are resolved quickly and fairly, with proper support for anyone who needs it.”
The Department of Business and Trade said: “Since the summer of 2024, the government has paid out more than £1.5bn in redress to over 12,000 claimants affected by the Horizon scandal – more than six times the amount paid before then.”
Announcing the planned end to the scheme a government press release was titled: “Post Office GLO Scheme to close following successful delivery.”
But despite the government’s egotism, Sir Alan Bates, who set up the JFSA and led the subpostmasters to the GLO, said the redress scheme has been hard-fought for by victims. Speaking about the government, he said: “They make all these platitudes, don’t they? All this nonsense, but at the end of the day, you know, it’s the victims that don’t seem to be coming first, regardless of what they say.”
He said many recipients are not happy about what they received: “It has been a very much a take-it-or-lump-it sort of approach from government. It was a continual battle right through to the very end.”
The struggle
The scheme was not actually announced until 2022, after continued campaigning following the successful claimants being awarded derisory payments.
When the government-owned Post Office conceded in the High Court, it was forced to pay £57.75m in compensation. But after legal costs were paid, the victims were left with just £11m between them and received derisory sums. The government repeatedly stated that the payment was full and final, and could not be changed.
But on the back of the JFSA’s court victory, the Post Office set up a compensation scheme for subpostmasters affected, but excluded members of the JFSA because it said the court settlement was “full and final”.
In 2022, under pressure from the JFSA and its political supporters, the government U-turned and agreed to pay GLO claimants fair redress.
There are multiple financial redress schemes, which is a reflection of the size and complexity of the Post Office Horizon scandal.
Following the GLO court victory, the government established the Horizon Shortfalls scheme to offer redress to subpostmasters affected by the scandal, outside the GLO.
It also set up a redress scheme for subpostmasters wrongly prosecuted, who had convictions overturned. It has set up a scheme for subpostmasters affected by errors from accounting software used at branches, known as Capture, which predated Horizon, and recently established a programme for family members of subpostmasters affected.
Computer Weekly first exposed the scandal in 2009, revealing the stories of seven subpostmasters and the problems they suffered as a result of the Horizon system.