Ministers will publish legislation to quash the convictions of hundreds of post office operators who were prosecuted during the Horizon scandal, marking a significant victory for victims after decades of campaigning.
The legislation on Wednesday will automatically overturn convictions of theft, fraud and false accounting that were handed down in connection with Post Office business during that period. It will cover prosecutions brought by the Post Office and the Crown Prosecution Service in England and Wales between 1996 and 2018.
The government will also extend compensation to those who were never convicted or took part in legal action against the Post Office. Operators who were investigated but not convicted will become eligible for £75,000 redress payments via the Post Office’s Horizon shortfall scheme (HSS).
Those who have their convictions quashed can receive an interim payment of £163,000 within 28 days of applying, and then choose between receiving a fixed compensation payment totalling £600,000 or having their case considered on an individual basis.
Hundreds of operators were wrongly prosecuted after a faulty computer system, Horizon, made it look as if money was missing. There have been more than 900 convictions linked to the scandal over 16 years, with only about 100 overturned so far.
The Department for Business and Trade said there were 2,864 people who would be eligible for compensation and were already part of the HSS, though anyone else affected by the scandal could still come forward. The government said it aimed to open the scheme for applications as soon as possible once the legislation has been passed.
Compensation payments for post office operators who have their convictions overturned by this bill will now be managed by the business department, not the Post Office.
It comes following a recommendation by MPs on the business select committee, who said last week that the Post Office was “not fit for purpose to run the payouts”.
The government has made £1bn available to compensate those wrongfully convicted during the scandal.
The legislation published on Wednesday will cover convictions linked to the pilot of the Horizon IT system, which was rolled out in 1996 in hundreds of Post Office branches in the north-east of England.
It will not, however, cover convictions related to Capture, a different controversial IT system that was a precursor to Horizon in the mid-to-late 1990s.
James Arbuthnot, a Tory peer and leading campaigner for wrongfully convicted post office operators, told the Guardian: “They will need to find a method of dealing with those people.
“At the moment I think that the government believes they haven’t got a sufficient body of evidence about that precursor system because it is such a very long time ago, but they are going to be building up that body of evidence.”
Kevan Jones, the Labour MP who has campaigned for post office operators since 2009, said: “It is essential that we get this bill passed as soon as possible before summer recess so that those affected can get the justice and compensation they have fought so long for.”
The government plans to pass the bill by the end of July. Ministers are pressing ahead despite discussing an alternative plan last month to overturn convictions through the courts after concerns about mass exonerations by ministers were raised by the judiciary.
Senior lawyers and judges have said that quashing convictions by statute sets a dangerous precedent by allowing parliament and politicians to overturn the decisions of courts. Critics also say it lumps together innocent and guilty.
Nick Emmerson, president of the Law Society of England and Wales, said: “We all know that we need to speed up the process for quashing the wrongful convictions of the victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal.
“We recognise that the government has carefully considered the pressures facing our legal system and has set out some reasonable criteria. However, as always, the devil will be in the detail of such a complex proposal.
“An exceptional scheme such as this can only be justified by extraordinary circumstances. It cannot be treated as a precedent or justify further government intervention in the independence of our justice system.”
Kevin Hollinrake, the business minister with responsibility for the Post Office, said: “Postmasters have been fighting for justice for years, and I hope the introduction of today’s legislation is the light at the end of the tunnel they have been waiting for.”
Kemi Badenoch, the business secretary, said: “It is absolutely right that we sweep away the convictions wrongly given to postmasters on the basis of bad evidence, and it is a disgrace that they were ever pursued by the Post Office.”
Alex Chalk, the justice secretary, said: “These are exceptional circumstances, which require an exceptional response to ensure those who were wrongly convicted can not only clear their names but be fairly and swiftly compensated.”
Post office operators who believe they were wrongfully convicted and have not yet been contacted have been urged to come forward by contacting the Post Office.
• This article was amended on 13 March 2024 to clarify the type of compensation payments that will now be managed by the business department, rather than the Post Office.
