Wyn Williams has released the first part of his report into the Horizon scandal, finding that even prior to the rollout of the now-infamous IT system, “some employees of Fujitsu had discovered that Horizon was capable of producing data which was false”.
The Post Office began rolling out Horizon to branches and Crown Offices in about September 1999, with the process completed in early 2002, the report said, adding: “Specifically, it was known to those employees that it could produce losses or gains in branch or Crown Office accounts which were illusory rather than real.
“That state of affairs came about because, from time to time, Legacy Horizon would be afflicted by what have come to be known as ‘bugs, errors and defects’.”
Williams went on to say that even though many individuals were “very reluctant to accept it”, he was satisfied that, given the evidence he had reviewed, “a number of senior, and not so senior, employees of the Post Office knew or, at the very least, should have known that Horizon was capable of error as described above”.
He said despite that knowledge, the Post Office “maintained the fiction that its data was always accurate”.
Between around 2000 and 2013, the Post Office accused thousands of postmasters and others who worked in branches of financial impropriety. The report estimated that “many hundreds of people have been convicted, wrongly, of criminal offences, and many thousands of people have been held responsible, wrongly, for losses which were illusory, as opposed to real”.
Williams also made plain the human impact of the Horizon scandal. Though he said it was “almost impossible to ascertain… the number of persons who have suffered as a result”, Williams revealed that 13 people had been driven to suicide, and he had heard from another 59 who had contemplated it, as a result of their experiences with Horizon and/or the Post Office.
The report quoted one postmaster as saying: “The impact on me of the treatment the Post Office subjected me to has been immeasurable. The mental stress was so great that I had a mental breakdown and turned to alcohol as I sunk further into depression. I attempted suicide on several occasions and was admitted to a mental health institution twice.”
Others were wrongly convicted and imprisoned, became seriously ill, were declared bankrupt or suffered from serious mental illness.
“I do not think it is easy to exaggerate the trauma which persons are likely to suffer when they are the subject of criminal investigation, prosecution, conviction and sentence. That is especially so when the persons involved have had no previous experience of these processes,” Williams said in the report.
He estimated there were currently about 10,000 eligible claimants to the schemes that had been set up to provide financial redress.
Recommendations
The report also made 19 recommendations, and set a deadline of 10 October for the government, the Post Office and/or Fujitsu to provide written responses.
It recommended the Department of Business & Trade work in conjunction with the Post Office to “make a public announcement explaining what is meant by the phrase ‘full and fair financial redress’” for the claimants.
Other recommendations included the government creating as soon as possible a public body to administer and deliver financial redress schemes, as well as Fujitsu, the Post Office and government setting out plans for restorative justice.
Restorative justice is the process of bringing together people who have caused harm and those affected by it, so they can discuss the impact, take responsibility, and work collaboratively on making amends.
In a statement, the Post Office 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 second part of the report is set to be published later this year or in early 2026.
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