Government Promises Justice to Victims of Another Faulty Post Office Accounting System

A sign outside a Post Office in England in a file photo. Lewis Stickley/PA

The Post Office’s Capture software could have created similar accounting shortfall errors as those linked to its successor, Fujitsu Horizon, the government has said.

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) said on Tuesday that it recognised the findings of the independent Kroll report into Capture and has promised “justice and redress” for postmasters who suffered losses as a result.

Capture was rolled out to some Post Office branches in 1992 before being replaced by Horizon in 1999.

In light of the Horizon IT scandal, postmasters came forward in January to say that they had faced similar issues with Capture, prompting the government to commission an independent review conducted by forensic accountant Kroll Associates.

The government has said it will work quickly with victims to determine the form and scope of redress as well as eligibility criteria by spring 2025.

Redress and Justice

Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds thanked postmasters for their testimony.

Reynolds said, “We must now work quickly to provide redress and justice to those who have suffered greatly after being wrongly accused.”

He then called for anyone who believes that they may have been affected by Capture “to share their story with us so we can put wrongs to right once and for all.”

DBT said that the Post Office has indicated it holds further information on convictions related to the Capture era.

The department has asked the Post Office to urgently review its files so the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) and the Scotland Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) “can ensure that no one was wrongfully convicted of a Horizon-style injustice.”

The government noted that the Kroll report does not take a view whether Capture led to any possible unsafe convictions and that it will continue to provide information to the CCRC and the SCCRC, along with the Post Office, in their ongoing investigations.

Challenges

Several challenges exist to ensuring justice and redress are delivered, not least because of the length of time that has passed since the Capture system was in use. This means that a large proportion of those postmasters may have died.

DBT noted the potential loss or destruction of evidence related to suspensions, terminations, prosecutions, convictions, and shortfalls.

The department also adds that there were at least 19 different operational versions of the Capture software during the period.

It is also not known how many users there were operating Capture, unlike the Horizon system which was universal across all Post Offices.

Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells arriving to give evidence on her third day at the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry at Aldwych House, central London, on May 24, 2024. Jonathan Brady/PA Wire

Post Office minister Gareth Thomas said that his “priority now is to deliver justice and redress to postmasters as swiftly as possible.”

“We will do everything we can to correct the mistakes of the past and ensure they are not repeated,” Thomas added.

Horizon IT Inquiry

The government’s response to the Kroll inquiry comes as it marks paying out £500 million to more than 3,300 Horizon victims.

Tuesday is also the final day of closing submissions to the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry, after which it will continue gathering and analysing evidence before drafting the final report.

Between 1999 and 2015, more than 900 subpostmasters were wrongfully convicted for embezzling money from the Post Office based on incorrect data from Horizon, despite growing evidence that the IT system was faulty and was giving the misleading impression that money was going missing from branches.

Former sub-postmaster Alan Bates leaves after attending a Business and Trade Select Committee hearing in at Portcullis House, London, on Feb. 27, 2024. Annabel Lee-Ellis/AFP via Getty Images

A High Court judge ruled in December 2019 that Horizon contained a number of “bugs, errors and defects” and there was a “material risk” that shortfalls in branch accounts were caused by the IT system.

The scandal has been described as one of the largest miscarriages of justice in British legal history and the previous government passed a law to exonerate and compensate those wrongly accused, some of whom were imprisoned.

No Charges Until 2027

Last week, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) said that any charging decisions and criminal trials related to the Post Office Horizon scandal will not take place until 2027.

The NPCC said this was owing to the “unprecedented” scale, complexity, and scope of the investigation.

Police launched Operation Olympos in 2020 which has been running in parallel with the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry that began in February 2022.

Operation Olympos has a 100-strong investigation team and is focusing on offences including perjury and perverting the course of justice.

Investigators said that they are looking at a “significant number of people” from the Post Office, Fujitsu, and in the legal profession.

Police believe that there could be more than 3,000 victims.