Horizon Shortfall Scheme: contacting the independent Senior Lawyer
Published 16 December 2025
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Role of the independent Senior Lawyer (ISL)
The government and the Post Office have appointed Sir Gary Hickinbottom as the independent Senior Lawyer for the Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS).
The ISL’s role is to oversee the scheme and make sure it runs fairly and efficiently. He can review issues that affect the scheme as a whole.
The ISL will not consider referrals about individual cases to avoid confusion with the existing appeals routes and to protect the independence of the panel.
The ISL does not replace or repeat existing processes such as the HSS Independent Panel or Horizon Shortfall Scheme Appeals (HSSA) process.
The appointment of an ISL was one of the recommendations made in Volume 1 of the Horizon IT Inquiry report.
Raising issues with the ISL
Anyone can contact with the HSS ISL about issues with the scheme. To do so, email hss.islsecretariat@dentons.com.
When you contact the ISL, include:
- a short summary of your situation
- the HSS principles, policies or criteria you would like the ISL to look at
- what outcome you want from the ISL
The ISL will only look at issues that affect the scheme as a whole. The ISL cannot comment on or decide the merits of individual cases.
The ISL scope of work explains what happens after you email the ISL.
Support with your individual case
If you need support on how to appeal your HSS settlement offer or for more support please see the following guidance:
Information and Support Service
You can also get support from the independent Information and Support Service (ISS) for postmasters.
This service is there to help Horizon redress scheme applicants without legal representation understand and navigate the redress scheme process.
The service can help to explain the different routes available to you and the type of evidence and information you could provide to support your application.
It cannot provide guidance or legal advice.