Compensation to postmasters reaches £1 billion milestone

9 Jun 2025 01:25 PM

More than £1 billion has been paid out to over 7,300 postmasters affected by the Horizon IT scandal – one of the biggest miscarriages of justice of our time.

• Yesterday’s data reveals over £1bn has been paid out in financial redress to thousands of postmasters across the UK  
• This includes £245m in the Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme launched last summer  
• Redress for victims of Horizon scandal has more than quadrupled under this government - delivering on a key manifesto commitment

This figure is a total across the Horizon-related redress schemes, with data published by the government yesterday (Monday 9 June).

This milestone marks the Government’s ongoing commitment to deliver redress and justice to postmasters as swiftly as possible. Whilst Government cannot fully put right what postmasters have been through, what is being delivered is increased redress and ensuring the compensation process work better than it has done previously.

Post Office Minister Gareth Thomas yesterday said:  

Since entering government, it has been our priority to speed up the delivery of compensation to victims of the Horizon Scandal and today’s milestone shows how much progress has been made.  

We are settling cases every day and getting compensation out more quickly for the most complex cases, but the job isn’t done until every postmaster has received fair and just redress.

Since entering government, redress paid out to victims of the Horizon Scandal has more than quadrupled to £1,039 million, delivering on a key manifesto promise to ensure justice and compensation are delivered swiftly for those sub-postmasters shamefully affected by the Horizon IT scandal. 

Ministers continue to review each scheme to ensure the process is as smooth as it can be, and welcome feedback and scrutiny from postmasters, campaigners and Parliament and recognise the tireless campaigning in this area over many years. Reforms to increase the roll out of redress has included the following steps.

Since July 2024, the government has also launched the Horizon Convictions Redress scheme - providing redress to postmasters who had their convictions overturned by the Post Office Offences Act (and the equivalent legislation in Scotland) and also launched the Horizon Shortfall Scheme Appeals process.

In March, Ministers made a commitment that claims for redress under the Post Office’s Overturned Convictions scheme would be transferred into the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and the Post Office would cease to be involved in the administration of redress for overturned convictions. This is something that postmasters, campaigners and Parliamentarians have called for. As of 3 June, these cases have all been transferred and all future redress for these claimants will be managed by DBT. 

Other milestones include:  

• Launching the Post Office Process Review (PPR) helping to provide redress to postmasters who suffered financial losses caused by products, processes or policies that were designed or delivered incorrectly.  
• Beginning Horizon Shortfall Scheme fixed-sum payments of £75,000 for those who don’t want to go through the full assessment process.  
• Announcing the upcoming publication of a Green Paper which will give the public the chance to have their view on the future of Post Office.  
• Committing to develop an effective and fair redress process for those affected by the Capture IT system.