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Leader Live
08-07-2025
- Business
- Leader Live
Government ‘sympathetic' to Post Office inquiry's 19 recommendations
The Government will respond 'properly' to Sir Wyn's recommendations by the inquiry's October 10 deadline, Gareth Thomas pledged at the despatch box. 'I cannot assuage the anger of the victims, nor will the anger I feel on their behalf ever be assuaged,' business minister Mr Thomas told the Commons. 'But we are determined to do more on redress and beyond, and to do it quickly, to give more of the victims of this appalling scandal, at least, a measure of the peace they so rightly deserve.' Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry chairman Sir Wyn published the first volume of his final report on Tuesday. He found a 'number of senior people' at the Post Office were aware the Legacy Horizon system was capable of error up until it was changed in 2010, with several employees also aware the updated system, Horizon Online, also had bugs and defects. Among his 19 recommendations in the report was that the Government and Post Office should make a public announcement about what they mean by 'full and fair redress'. Mr Thomas told MPs: 'Blameless people were impoverished, bankrupted, stressed beyond belief, lost their jobs, their marriages, their reputations, their mental health, in some cases lost their lives.' He added: 'To be clear, I am very sympathetic to Sir Wyn's 19 recommendations today. 'Clearly, a number of them require careful consideration.' Mr Thomas said the Government already accepts a recommendation that the 'best offer principle' should apply where claimants can receive money through the High Court Group Litigation Order (GLO) scheme. Claimants 'should be able to bank the best offer they get', Mr Thomas said, including if they disagree with their award and lodge an appeal with an independent panel. 'We will provide redress for family members of postmasters who suffered because of the scandal,' the minister continued. He said: 'Sir Wyn rightly recognises that designing a suitable compensation scheme for family members raises some very difficult issues. 'Nonetheless, we want to look after those family members who suffered most, meeting Sir Wyn's recommendation that we should give, and I quote, 'redress to close family members of the most adversely affected by Horizon'.' Mr Thomas later said: 'Sir Wyn argues that there should be a standing public body to deliver redress in any further scandal. I have a considerable amount of sympathy with that argument, but clearly we shall need to analyse the options fully before we commit to it. 'We will reflect on how to address those twin challenges, and will bring our conclusions back to the House.' Ian Byrne pressed the Government on Labour's manifesto pledge to bring forward a Hillsborough law, named after the 1989 stadium crush in Sheffield, which would place a legal duty of candour on public servants and authorities and provide legal aid for victims of disasters or state-related deaths. The Labour MP for Liverpool West Derby said: 'The publication of the report confirms the scale – the heartbreaking scale – of the human impact of this shocking miscarriage of justice.' He warned that the Post Office scandal 'follows a familiar pattern, where institutions deceive and distort because they put their reputations before truth and justice'. Mr Byrne, who has proposed his own Hillsborough law, having tabled the Public Authority (Accountability) Bill, asked: 'Does the minister agree that this report again shows why the Government must honour its pledge and promise to enact the Hillsborough law in full, and end this culture of cover-ups which does so much damage to the innocent victims' families and this country's reputation?' Mr Thomas replied: 'We need to see in full who was responsible for this disaster and why. 'Sir Wyn Williams's work in this regard is critical. We are awaiting his final report which will look at what happened and why it happened, and who was responsible, and that transparency will be hugely important in terms of helping the Post Office to learn the lessons from this appalling scandal, but for also the country as a whole to learn the lessons from the scandal. 'And if there are measures that we need to bring forward to make sure the Post Office is never in a position like this again, then we will certainly look to bring those forwards.' Conservative former minister Sir Andrew Mitchell said 'many' of his colleagues had raised Horizon redress 'for years' and added: 'It took the ITV drama of January 1 2024 (Mr Bates vs The Post Office) for the earth to move, which rather begs the question, what is the point of Parliament and its elected representatives?' He also asked: 'Isn't it about time that the institutions of the state got out the handcuffs and held the tax-funded villains who perpetrated this monstrous injustice to full and total account?' Mr Thomas said: 'Sir Wyn's further report will lay bare who is responsible, that and the work of the police. 'Their work is ongoing. There are 100 police officers working on this case. They are in touch with subpostmaster representatives and they have identified a series of people who are of interest to their inquiry.'
South Wales Guardian
08-07-2025
- Business
- South Wales Guardian
Government ‘sympathetic' to Post Office inquiry's 19 recommendations
The Government will respond 'properly' to Sir Wyn's recommendations by the inquiry's October 10 deadline, Gareth Thomas pledged at the despatch box. 'I cannot assuage the anger of the victims, nor will the anger I feel on their behalf ever be assuaged,' business minister Mr Thomas told the Commons. 'But we are determined to do more on redress and beyond, and to do it quickly, to give more of the victims of this appalling scandal, at least, a measure of the peace they so rightly deserve.' Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry chairman Sir Wyn published the first volume of his final report on Tuesday. He found a 'number of senior people' at the Post Office were aware the Legacy Horizon system was capable of error up until it was changed in 2010, with several employees also aware the updated system, Horizon Online, also had bugs and defects. Among his 19 recommendations in the report was that the Government and Post Office should make a public announcement about what they mean by 'full and fair redress'. Mr Thomas told MPs: 'Blameless people were impoverished, bankrupted, stressed beyond belief, lost their jobs, their marriages, their reputations, their mental health, in some cases lost their lives.' He added: 'To be clear, I am very sympathetic to Sir Wyn's 19 recommendations today. 'Clearly, a number of them require careful consideration.' Mr Thomas said the Government already accepts a recommendation that the 'best offer principle' should apply where claimants can receive money through the High Court Group Litigation Order (GLO) scheme. Claimants 'should be able to bank the best offer they get', Mr Thomas said, including if they disagree with their award and lodge an appeal with an independent panel. 'We will provide redress for family members of postmasters who suffered because of the scandal,' the minister continued. He said: 'Sir Wyn rightly recognises that designing a suitable compensation scheme for family members raises some very difficult issues. 'Nonetheless, we want to look after those family members who suffered most, meeting Sir Wyn's recommendation that we should give, and I quote, 'redress to close family members of the most adversely affected by Horizon'.' Mr Thomas later said: 'Sir Wyn argues that there should be a standing public body to deliver redress in any further scandal. I have a considerable amount of sympathy with that argument, but clearly we shall need to analyse the options fully before we commit to it. 'We will reflect on how to address those twin challenges, and will bring our conclusions back to the House.' Ian Byrne pressed the Government on Labour's manifesto pledge to bring forward a Hillsborough law, named after the 1989 stadium crush in Sheffield, which would place a legal duty of candour on public servants and authorities and provide legal aid for victims of disasters or state-related deaths. The Labour MP for Liverpool West Derby said: 'The publication of the report confirms the scale – the heartbreaking scale – of the human impact of this shocking miscarriage of justice.' He warned that the Post Office scandal 'follows a familiar pattern, where institutions deceive and distort because they put their reputations before truth and justice'. Mr Byrne, who has proposed his own Hillsborough law, having tabled the Public Authority (Accountability) Bill, asked: 'Does the minister agree that this report again shows why the Government must honour its pledge and promise to enact the Hillsborough law in full, and end this culture of cover-ups which does so much damage to the innocent victims' families and this country's reputation?' Mr Thomas replied: 'We need to see in full who was responsible for this disaster and why. 'Sir Wyn Williams's work in this regard is critical. We are awaiting his final report which will look at what happened and why it happened, and who was responsible, and that transparency will be hugely important in terms of helping the Post Office to learn the lessons from this appalling scandal, but for also the country as a whole to learn the lessons from the scandal. 'And if there are measures that we need to bring forward to make sure the Post Office is never in a position like this again, then we will certainly look to bring those forwards.' Conservative former minister Sir Andrew Mitchell said 'many' of his colleagues had raised Horizon redress 'for years' and added: 'It took the ITV drama of January 1 2024 (Mr Bates vs The Post Office) for the earth to move, which rather begs the question, what is the point of Parliament and its elected representatives?' He also asked: 'Isn't it about time that the institutions of the state got out the handcuffs and held the tax-funded villains who perpetrated this monstrous injustice to full and total account?' Mr Thomas said: 'Sir Wyn's further report will lay bare who is responsible, that and the work of the police. 'Their work is ongoing. There are 100 police officers working on this case. They are in touch with subpostmaster representatives and they have identified a series of people who are of interest to their inquiry.'
STV News
08-07-2025
- Business
- STV News
Post Office Inquiry: Horizon scandal drove 13 people to suicide, report finds
The report also concluded Post Office bosses knew the Horizon IT system was capable of errors, but had 'maintained a fiction' it was accurate, as ITV News Investigations Editor Daniel Hewitt reports A damning report into the Post Office Horizon IT scandal has concluded that at least 13 people may have taken their own lives after being accused of wrongdoing. The report, issued as part of the long-running inquiry into the faulty Horizon IT system used in Post Office branches, described the impact on subpostmasters as 'disastrous' and said it heard evidence from 59 others who had also contemplated suicide as a result of the pressures from the scandal. Approximately 1,000 subpostmasters were wrongfully prosecuted by the Post Office between 1999 and 2015 after the faulty Legacy Horizon software made it look as though money was missing from their accounts. Tuesday's 162-page report, written by inquiry chair Sir Wyn Williams, also concluded Post Office bosses knew the Horizon IT system had widespread faults, but had 'maintained the fiction' it was accurate for years. Sir Wyn said: 'Although many of the individuals who gave evidence before me were very reluctant to accept it I am satisfied from the evidence that I have heard that a number of senior, or not so senior employees, of the Post Office knew or at the very least should have known that Legacy Horizon was capable of error. 'Yet, for all practical purposes, throughout the lifetime of Legacy Horizon, the Post Office maintained the fiction that its data was always accurate.' The report also found the Legacy Horizon system's 2010 replacement – known as Horizon Online – was also 'afflicted by bugs' and that employees of Fujitsu and the Post Office 'knew that this was so'. It emphasised the human cost of the scandal and criticised the failure to provide adequate redress, following years of ambiguous and inconsistent financial compensation offers from the Post Office. The inquiry estimates that as many as 10,000 people may have been affected by the Horizon scandal, including both convicted subpostmasters and those who experienced financial or reputational damage as a result of the system's failures. Sir Wyn described the attitude of the Post Office and its advisors in making compensation offers to victims as 'unnecessarily adversarial' and added this has had 'the effect of depressing the level of which settlements have been achieved'. What does the report recommend? Sir Wyn set out 19 recommendations, including: Delays and lack of legal support: The report found serious failings in the four compensation schemes – the Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS), the (GLO) Scheme, the Overturned Convictions (OC) Scheme, and the Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme (HCRS) – highlighting that 'the Post Office, the Department and Ministers simply failed to grasp' how hard timely redress would be. It criticised the refusal to fund legal advice under the HSS, saying the department 'continues to resist this as if its life depended on it.' The report found serious failings in the four compensation schemes – the Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS), the (GLO) Scheme, the Overturned Convictions (OC) Scheme, and the Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme (HCRS) – highlighting that 'the Post Office, the Department and Ministers simply failed to grasp' how hard timely redress would be. It criticised the refusal to fund legal advice under the HSS, saying the department 'continues to resist this as if its life depended on it.' Slow progress in GLO scheme: The GLO scheme, meant to compensate Alan Bates and other subpostmasters involved in litigation, was singled out as being 'very slow'. Sir Wyn warned that compensation may not be settled by the end of 2026. The GLO scheme, meant to compensate Alan Bates and other subpostmasters involved in litigation, was singled out as being 'very slow'. Sir Wyn warned that compensation may not be settled by the end of 2026. Call for clarity and fairness: The report urged the government to define what it means by 'full and fair financial' redress and stated that compensation should reflect 'the top end of the appropriate range of damages' a court might award. The report urged the government to define what it means by 'full and fair financial' redress and stated that compensation should reflect 'the top end of the appropriate range of damages' a court might award. Financial support for family : It called for a formal process to compensate close family members of those harmed by the Horizon scandal. : It called for a formal process to compensate close family members of those harmed by the Horizon scandal. Broader redress system proposed: It recommended creating a permanent public body to oversee future financial redress for victims of state wrongdoing. The report states that the government, Post Office and Fujitsu must provide a written response to the recommendations by October 10, 2025. A Post Office spokesperson said: 'The Inquiry has brought to life the devastating stories of those impacted by the Horizon Scandal. Their experiences represent a shameful period in our history. 'Today, we apologise unreservedly for the suffering which Post Office caused to postmasters and their loved ones. We will carefully consider the report and its recommendations.' The government is expected to give is a statement in the House of Commons later on Tuesday. Post Office Minister, Gareth Thomas, said: 'I welcome the Inquiry's publication today and pay tribute to Sir Wyn and his team for their comprehensive and penetrating work. 'We must never lose sight of the Horizon Scandal's human impact on postmasters and their families, which the Inquiry has highlighted so well. 'Sir Wyn's report highlights a series of failings by the Post Office and various governments. His recommendations are immensely helpful as a guide for what is needed to finish the job, and we will respond in full to Parliament after carefully considering them.' Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
Glasgow Times
08-07-2025
- Business
- Glasgow Times
Government ‘sympathetic' to Post Office inquiry's 19 recommendations
The Government will respond 'properly' to Sir Wyn's recommendations by the inquiry's October 10 deadline, Gareth Thomas pledged at the despatch box. 'I cannot assuage the anger of the victims, nor will the anger I feel on their behalf ever be assuaged,' business minister Mr Thomas told the Commons. 'But we are determined to do more on redress and beyond, and to do it quickly, to give more of the victims of this appalling scandal, at least, a measure of the peace they so rightly deserve.' Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry chairman Sir Wyn published the first volume of his final report on Tuesday. He found a 'number of senior people' at the Post Office were aware the Legacy Horizon system was capable of error up until it was changed in 2010, with several employees also aware the updated system, Horizon Online, also had bugs and defects. Among his 19 recommendations in the report was that the Government and Post Office should make a public announcement about what they mean by 'full and fair redress'. Mr Thomas told MPs: 'Blameless people were impoverished, bankrupted, stressed beyond belief, lost their jobs, their marriages, their reputations, their mental health, in some cases lost their lives.' He added: 'To be clear, I am very sympathetic to Sir Wyn's 19 recommendations today. 'Clearly, a number of them require careful consideration.' Mr Thomas said the Government already accepts a recommendation that the 'best offer principle' should apply where claimants can receive money through the High Court Group Litigation Order (GLO) scheme. Claimants 'should be able to bank the best offer they get', Mr Thomas said, including if they disagree with their award and lodge an appeal with an independent panel. 'We will provide redress for family members of postmasters who suffered because of the scandal,' the minister continued. He said: 'Sir Wyn rightly recognises that designing a suitable compensation scheme for family members raises some very difficult issues. 'Nonetheless, we want to look after those family members who suffered most, meeting Sir Wyn's recommendation that we should give, and I quote, 'redress to close family members of the most adversely affected by Horizon'.' Mr Thomas later said: 'Sir Wyn argues that there should be a standing public body to deliver redress in any further scandal. I have a considerable amount of sympathy with that argument, but clearly we shall need to analyse the options fully before we commit to it. 'We will reflect on how to address those twin challenges, and will bring our conclusions back to the House.' Ian Byrne pressed the Government on Labour's manifesto pledge to bring forward a Hillsborough law, named after the 1989 stadium crush in Sheffield, which would place a legal duty of candour on public servants and authorities and provide legal aid for victims of disasters or state-related deaths. The Labour MP for Liverpool West Derby said: 'The publication of the report confirms the scale – the heartbreaking scale – of the human impact of this shocking miscarriage of justice.' He warned that the Post Office scandal 'follows a familiar pattern, where institutions deceive and distort because they put their reputations before truth and justice'. Mr Byrne, who has proposed his own Hillsborough law, having tabled the Public Authority (Accountability) Bill, asked: 'Does the minister agree that this report again shows why the Government must honour its pledge and promise to enact the Hillsborough law in full, and end this culture of cover-ups which does so much damage to the innocent victims' families and this country's reputation?' Mr Thomas replied: 'We need to see in full who was responsible for this disaster and why. 'Sir Wyn Williams's work in this regard is critical. We are awaiting his final report which will look at what happened and why it happened, and who was responsible, and that transparency will be hugely important in terms of helping the Post Office to learn the lessons from this appalling scandal, but for also the country as a whole to learn the lessons from the scandal. 'And if there are measures that we need to bring forward to make sure the Post Office is never in a position like this again, then we will certainly look to bring those forwards.' Conservative former minister Sir Andrew Mitchell said 'many' of his colleagues had raised Horizon redress 'for years' and added: 'It took the ITV drama of January 1 2024 (Mr Bates vs The Post Office) for the earth to move, which rather begs the question, what is the point of Parliament and its elected representatives?' He also asked: 'Isn't it about time that the institutions of the state got out the handcuffs and held the tax-funded villains who perpetrated this monstrous injustice to full and total account?' Mr Thomas said: 'Sir Wyn's further report will lay bare who is responsible, that and the work of the police. 'Their work is ongoing. There are 100 police officers working on this case. They are in touch with subpostmaster representatives and they have identified a series of people who are of interest to their inquiry.'
North Wales Chronicle
08-07-2025
- Business
- North Wales Chronicle
Government ‘sympathetic' to Post Office inquiry's 19 recommendations
The Government will respond 'properly' to Sir Wyn's recommendations by the inquiry's October 10 deadline, Gareth Thomas pledged at the despatch box. 'I cannot assuage the anger of the victims, nor will the anger I feel on their behalf ever be assuaged,' business minister Mr Thomas told the Commons. 'But we are determined to do more on redress and beyond, and to do it quickly, to give more of the victims of this appalling scandal, at least, a measure of the peace they so rightly deserve.' Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry chairman Sir Wyn published the first volume of his final report on Tuesday. He found a 'number of senior people' at the Post Office were aware the Legacy Horizon system was capable of error up until it was changed in 2010, with several employees also aware the updated system, Horizon Online, also had bugs and defects. Among his 19 recommendations in the report was that the Government and Post Office should make a public announcement about what they mean by 'full and fair redress'. Mr Thomas told MPs: 'Blameless people were impoverished, bankrupted, stressed beyond belief, lost their jobs, their marriages, their reputations, their mental health, in some cases lost their lives.' He added: 'To be clear, I am very sympathetic to Sir Wyn's 19 recommendations today. 'Clearly, a number of them require careful consideration.' Mr Thomas said the Government already accepts a recommendation that the 'best offer principle' should apply where claimants can receive money through the High Court Group Litigation Order (GLO) scheme. Claimants 'should be able to bank the best offer they get', Mr Thomas said, including if they disagree with their award and lodge an appeal with an independent panel. 'We will provide redress for family members of postmasters who suffered because of the scandal,' the minister continued. He said: 'Sir Wyn rightly recognises that designing a suitable compensation scheme for family members raises some very difficult issues. 'Nonetheless, we want to look after those family members who suffered most, meeting Sir Wyn's recommendation that we should give, and I quote, 'redress to close family members of the most adversely affected by Horizon'.' Mr Thomas later said: 'Sir Wyn argues that there should be a standing public body to deliver redress in any further scandal. I have a considerable amount of sympathy with that argument, but clearly we shall need to analyse the options fully before we commit to it. 'We will reflect on how to address those twin challenges, and will bring our conclusions back to the House.' Ian Byrne pressed the Government on Labour's manifesto pledge to bring forward a Hillsborough law, named after the 1989 stadium crush in Sheffield, which would place a legal duty of candour on public servants and authorities and provide legal aid for victims of disasters or state-related deaths. The Labour MP for Liverpool West Derby said: 'The publication of the report confirms the scale – the heartbreaking scale – of the human impact of this shocking miscarriage of justice.' He warned that the Post Office scandal 'follows a familiar pattern, where institutions deceive and distort because they put their reputations before truth and justice'. Mr Byrne, who has proposed his own Hillsborough law, having tabled the Public Authority (Accountability) Bill, asked: 'Does the minister agree that this report again shows why the Government must honour its pledge and promise to enact the Hillsborough law in full, and end this culture of cover-ups which does so much damage to the innocent victims' families and this country's reputation?' Mr Thomas replied: 'We need to see in full who was responsible for this disaster and why. 'Sir Wyn Williams's work in this regard is critical. We are awaiting his final report which will look at what happened and why it happened, and who was responsible, and that transparency will be hugely important in terms of helping the Post Office to learn the lessons from this appalling scandal, but for also the country as a whole to learn the lessons from the scandal. 'And if there are measures that we need to bring forward to make sure the Post Office is never in a position like this again, then we will certainly look to bring those forwards.' Conservative former minister Sir Andrew Mitchell said 'many' of his colleagues had raised Horizon redress 'for years' and added: 'It took the ITV drama of January 1 2024 (Mr Bates vs The Post Office) for the earth to move, which rather begs the question, what is the point of Parliament and its elected representatives?' He also asked: 'Isn't it about time that the institutions of the state got out the handcuffs and held the tax-funded villains who perpetrated this monstrous injustice to full and total account?' Mr Thomas said: 'Sir Wyn's further report will lay bare who is responsible, that and the work of the police. 'Their work is ongoing. There are 100 police officers working on this case. They are in touch with subpostmaster representatives and they have identified a series of people who are of interest to their inquiry.'
