The final report of the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry has been delayed once more. Although no publication date was ever formally announced, the process is taking longer than anticipated, and participants have been told we are now highly unlikely to see the final report delivered to parliament before September this year.
In early 2025 I was told by sources close to the Inquiry that the Chair, Sir Wyn Williams, initially hoped to publish his final report in full in December 2025. Sir Wyn published volume one of the final report (dealing with human impact and compensation) in July 2025. When I asked my sources that autumn if the Inquiry was still on track to publish the remaining volume(s) before Christmas, they went very quiet.
Warning letters
Core participants to the Inquiry were subsequently told in November 2025 that Warning letters were not being sent until January 2026. Warning letters are part of what used to be known as the Maxwellisation process. They give named organisations and individuals the chance to see proposed criticism of them in an Inquiry report and respond in advance of publication. At the time, victims’ lawyers told their clients this meant publication of the report would be unlikely before June 2026.
We then discovered more Warning letters would be sent to named individuals in March and April this year, making the possibility of the report’s publication in June almost impossible.
The Inquiry has belatedly acknowledged this, telling core participants that the Warning letter process is not now scheduled to conclude before 31 August this year, whilst also suggesting it could go on into the autumn.
The very earliest that the Inquiry report could be published and laid before parliament is therefore September 2026, which even now looks deeply unlikely. We may soon get some clarity (and hopefully explanation) as I understand Sir Wyn Williams intends to deliver some kind of on-the-record update later this month.
Prosecutions a long way off
There are major implications to this latest delay. There is a likelihood, given the number and age of the people affected by this scandal, that more victims will die before Inquiry produces its final report. We also know that (for reasons which I still think don’t bear proper scrutiny), the police investigation into possible criminal activity at the Post Office (Operation Olympos) is waiting for the Inquiry’s final report before recommending charges to the Crown Prosecutions Service, despite spending what has ramped up to £750,000 a month on its own six year investigation. Op Olympos’ last pronouncement was a warning that notwithstanding the Inquiry’s final report, it needed the cash to nearly double the number of its investigators, or there would be no prosecutions for another five years.
The Post Office started falsely prosecuting people using Horizon data 26 years ago. Sir Alan Bates started his campaign for justice in 23 years ago. Seventeen years ago this November, the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance was formed. Seven years ago, Sir Alan and his fellow Subpostmasters won their civil case at the High Court. In 2020 the first convictions were quashed, the police investigation (Operation Olympos) began and a review, which became the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry, was announced. The Inquiry (having been put on a statutory footing) launched proper four years ago. Its final open hearing was in December 2024. What’s another few months’ wait, eh?
The journalism on this blog is crowdfunded. If you would like to join the “secret email” newsletter, please consider making a one-off donation. The money is used to keep the contents of this website free. You will receive occasional, irregular but informative email updates about the Post Office Horizon IT scandal.
Leave a Reply