Horizon (IT system)

An initial investigation failed, at first, to find the cause of the problems. As a result, an independent investigative firm Second Sight were brought in to conduct a separate, independent inquiry, in 2012.[1][11] At around this time, Paula Vennells became CEO of the Post Office.[11]

In July 2013, Post Office Ltd admitted (after an interim review by Second Sight) that software defects with Horizon had indeed occurred, but that the system was effective.[1] The review discovered problems in 2011 and 2012, when Post Office Ltd discovered defects which had caused a shortfall of up to £9,000 at 76 Post Office branches.[1] However, more than 150 sub-postmasters continued to raise issues with the system, which they claimed had, by error, put them in debt by tens of thousands of pounds, and that in some cases they lost their contracts or went to prison.[1][13]

The report – which was treated as confidential – described the Horizon system as, in some cases, "not fit for purpose".[13][14] The lead investigator for Second Sight claimed that there were about 12,000 communication failures every year, with software defects at 76 branches and old and unreliable hardware.[5] The system had, according to the report, not been tracking money from lottery terminals, tax disc sales or cash machines – and the initial Post Office Ltd investigation had not looked for the cause of the errors, instead accusing the sub-postmasters of theft[13] The report was dismissed by the Post Office.[15] However, it was leaked to the BBC in September 2014. The BBC's article on the report also said that training on the system was not good enough, that "equipment was outdated", and that "power cuts and communication problems made things worse".[13]

Post Office Ltd then went into mediation with the affected sub-postmasters.[13] By December, however, MPs had criticised Post Office Ltd for how it handled the sub-postmasters' claims, and 140 of those affected had withdrawn their support for the Post Office-run mediation scheme.[16] 144 MPs had been contacted by sub-postmasters about the issue, and James Arbuthnot, the MP leading on the matter, accused the organisation of rejecting 90% of applications for mediation.[16] Post Office Ltd said that the claims by Arbuthnot were "regrettable and surprising".[16] Arbuthnot further claimed that Post Office Ltd had been "duplicitous", and said that:[6]

I do not want to build up hopes that the other methods are going to be more successful than the current ones, so I will not be specific – but it will involve legal and political campaigns.

In February 2015, ComputerWorld UK, a UK trade magazine for IT managers, reported that Post Office Ltd were obstructing the investigation by refusing to hand over key files to Second Sight.[5] Post Office Ltd claimed in the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee hearing of 3 February 2015[17] that they "have been working with Second Sight over the last few weeks on what we agreed at the outset. We have been providing the information.", but the lead investigator for Second Sight, when asked by Adrian Bailey if that were the case, said "No, it is not.", as he had not been given access to prosecution files, which he needed to back up his suspicions that Post Office Ltd had brought cases against sub-postmasters with "inadequate investigation and inadequate evidence".[5] He said that these files were still outstanding eighteen months after they had been requested.[6]

In March 2015, Private Eye and other sources reported the news that Post Office Ltd had ordered Second Sight to end their investigation just one day before the report was due to be published, and to destroy all the paperwork which they had not handed over.[2][6] Post Office Ltd then scrapped the independent committee set up to oversee the investigation, as well as the mediation scheme for sub-postmasters, and published a report which cleared themselves of any wrongdoing.[2]

Of the 136 cases, 56 had been closed, and Post Office Ltd would put the rest forward for "mediation" unless a court ruling prevented them from doing so.[6] After ending the inquiry, Post Office Ltd said that there were no widescale problems, and that:[6][18]

This has been an exhaustive and informative process which has confirmed that there are no system-wide problems with our computer system and associated processes. We will now look to resolve the final outstanding cases as quickly as possible.

In 2019, class action civil litigation, Bates & Ors v Post Office Ltd,[19] brought by 550 sub-postmasters was settled by the Post Office.[20][21] Significant fees for counsel, repayment of legal financing, and payment of the legal financing "success fee" will be deducted from the £58 million settlement.[22]

Mr Justice Fraser, the judge overseeing the civil action noted that the approach of the Post Office to the case:

amounted, in reality, to bare assertions and denials that ignore what has actually occurred, at least so far as the witnesses called before me in the Horizon Issues trial are concerned. It amounts to the 21st century equivalent of maintaining that the earth is flat.

Vennells subsequently apologised to workers affected by the scandal, saying:[11]

I am truly sorry we were unable to find both a solution and a resolution outside of litigation and for the distress this caused.

In March 2020 the Criminal Cases Review Commission has so far decided to refer for appeal the convictions of 39 Post Office applicants. The Commission will be referring all those cases, which involve convictions for theft, fraud and false accounting, on the basis of the argument that each prosecution amounted to an abuse of process.[23] In May 2020 the Criminal Cases Review Commission has decided to refer a further eight Post Office workers’ convictions for appeal – this brings to 47 the number of cases to be sent for appeal so far on grounds related to the Horizon computer system.[24]

In December 2019, The Register reported that Mr Justice Fraser would be passing a file on to the Director of Public Prosecutions.[25][26] A number of cases are under review by the Criminal Cases Review Commission raising the possibility of actions for malicious prosecution.[27][28]

Arbuthnot, by now sitting in the House of Lords as Baron Arbuthnot of Edrom, said in November 2019:[29]

My own suggestion is that the government should clear out the entirety of the board and senior management of the Post Office and start again, perhaps with the assistance of consultancy services from Second Sight, who know where the bodies are buried.

Evidence about the case was also heard by Parliament's 'Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee' on 10 March 2020.[30][31]

In February 2020, Prime Minister Boris Johnson committed to an independent inquiry.[32]

On 19 March 2020, in a debate in the House of Commons, Kevan Jones MP criticized former Post Office CEO, Paula Vennells, for her role in the scandal.[33]

In a written ministerial statement on 10 June 2020 Paul Scully (Minister for Small Business, Consumers and Labour Markets) announced the scope of the Independent Review into the Post Office Horizon IT System and Trials.[34]

• Jo Hamilton, from South Warnborough in Hampshire, claims she first noticed problems with the Horizon system in 2005[35] and lost £36,000; she pleaded guilty to false accounting after trying to hide the resulting incorrect deficit.[1] She was originally charged with theft, but was told that if she repaid the money and pleaded guilty to 14 counts of false accounting, she would be less likely to go to prison.[16] At the time, she was told that she was the only person who had had these problems.[16] She pleaded guilty, and, under the terms of her contract, she paid her wages for the next ten months to Post Office Ltd, and had to remortgage her house to pay the money.[16][36] James Arbuthnot was her MP.[29]
• Noel Thomas, a man who had worked for the Royal Mail for 42 years, spent his 60th birthday in prison as a result of the errors.[10]
• Sarah Burgess Boyd, from Newcastle upon Tyne, said she lost her life savings in repaying an incorrect shortfall.[13]
• Rubina Nami was jailed for 12 months in 2010 for false accounting of £43,000.[37] She and her husband fell behind on mortgage payments and in February 2013 bailiffs seized their home and changed the locks.[35][37] They slept in their van for six weeks before being given a one-bed housing association flat by the local council.[37]
• According to Private Eye, there has been one documented suicide.[2]