Victims of the Post Office Scandal are being treated differently in Scotland to those in England and Wales. The revelation has come through the work of the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board, an advisory panel which has alerted the government to the Post Office scandal’s own postcode lottery.

Professor Chris Hodges, the chair of the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board, has written to Darren Jones, the current Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Chief Secretary to the outgoing Prime Minister, urging action to deal with several outstanding problems related to the Post Office scandal. Two relate to different treatment of convicted Subpostmasters in Scotland compared to those in England and Wales.

Post Office workers who still have criminal convictions fall broadly into three groups:

• Postmasters prosecuted by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
• Postmasters in England whose appeals were rejected by the Court of Appeal before the Post Office Horizon System Offences Act 2024 quashed most outstanding Postmaster convictions.
• Postmasters who were convicted using data from the Post Office’s Capture IT system (which pre-dated Horizon).

DWP Convictions

Hodges points out that the Act which quashed Subpostmaster convictions in Scotland (the Post Office Horizon System Offences (Scotland) Act 2024) covers any convictions brought on behalf of DWP “since prosecutions are brought in Scotland solely by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.” The HCAB believes this creates an injustice in England and Wales which needs addressing immediately.

According to the HCAB the DWP in England has “resisted reviewing anything other than their historical prosecution files… DWP make claims about relying on extraneous evidence and that ‘Horizon was irrelevant’, even though many cases now lack the records necessary to demonstrate if this was true… We are far from clear that DWP has adequately investigated the relevant facts of these cases.”

Hodges accepts that the DWP has advertised for an Independent Reviewer, but says “it appears that the terms of reference” for the job “are far too restricted”. Once appointed, the Independent Reviewer will only be assessing whether the DWP’s approach “has been ‘thorough and robust’, rather than examine the evidence that the prosecutions were undertaken appropriately and are safe”

Refused Appeals

The HCAB are similarly exercised by those in England and Wales whose appeals were refused before 2024 by the Court of Appeal. This group of people are explicitly carved out of the Post Office Horizon System Offences Act 2024, and must apply to the Criminal Cases Review Commission if they believe they have a case. Again it appears to be a case of geographical double standards when compared with Scotland, creating the Post Office scandal’s own postcode lottery.

As Hodges explains to Darren Jones: “The Scottish Government made a deliberate policy decision to differ from the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024 that applies in England and Wales, in that convictions in cases previously considered by the Court of Appeal were excluded from being quashed in E&W but were quashed in Scotland. This was because the Scottish Government considered that that the policy of excluding previously court considered appeals was ‘unduly restrictive’ and inconsistent as between different groups of victims. It seems to us that this has led to a continuing injustice in England and Wales that should now be rectified.”

Capture Convictions

Hodges notes the first two Capture appeals will not be heard before 2027. He believes the Post Office’s insistence that “as original prosecutor it has a procedural obligation to assent or oppose an appeal” is a “clear conflict of interest”. Hodges says “the right, just and fair approach would be for [the Post Office] to take no stance on appeals. Their arguments for defending cases will meet strong press criticisms when aired, we believe renewing anguish and hurt to victims and damaging the reputation of the justice system and any attempt by the Post Office to reclaim trust.”

The HCAB’s solution is either to have all outstanding Capture convictions overturned by legislation, “or an expedited system be applied” either involving the CCRC or creating an independent review by senior judiciary “to properly investigate and overturn appropriate cases”.

Hodges’ letter was sent on 16 June, but the HCAB have yet to receive a reply. Once source close to the process told me “it’s probably been in the Burnham black hole”.

You can read the letter to Darren Jones from the HCAB here and the detail of multiple issues raised in the associated paper attached to the letter, here.

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