Transparency data

Post Office Horizon compensation data: September 2023

Updated 5 March 2024

The government is determined that postmasters affected by the Horizon IT scandal receive the compensation that they deserve. As of 15 September 2023, £122 million has been paid to over 2,600 claimants across 3 schemes:

• Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS): £79 million
• Group Litigation Order (GLO) Scheme: £22 million total value of all payments including interim payments
• Overturned Convictions (OC) Scheme: 86 convictions have been overturned: £21 million total value of all payments including further interim payments

A further detailed breakdown for each scheme is on this page.

Scheme	Claims Received	Offer Made	Claims Paid
Overturned Convictions (OC): Initial Interim Payments	85	82	82
Overturned Convictions (OC): Pecuniary	21	10	5
Overturned Convictions (OC) Non-Pecuniary	73	70*	59
Group Litigation Order Scheme (GLO): Full and Final	20	Withheld	Withheld
Group Litigation Order Scheme (GLO): Initial Interim Payment	Not applicable	Not applicable	473
Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS): Eligible claims before deadline	2,417	2,411	2,016
Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS): Eligible late claim	264	152	91

*Additional 3 have received a partial offer as part of the claim is still to be processed.

Information correct as of:

• Overturned Convictions (OC): 31 August

• Group Litigation Order Scheme (GLO): 15 September

• Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS): 5 September

Notes for tables:

• spend is rounded to nearest £1 million

• some data are withheld by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) for claimant privacy purposes

• data regarding the HSS and OC are sourced from Post Office Ltd which retains full responsibility for the data published on its website

• Overturned Convictions (OC):

  • initial interim payments are available to eligible postmasters upon getting their conviction overturned on the grounds that it was reliant on Horizon evidence

  • non-pecuniary damages are personal damages, such as mental distress and loss of liberty. Pecuniary damages are financial damages, such as loss of earnings. A ‘full’ settlement comprises both elements of claim, however Post Office has been progressing non-pecuniary settlements first to get money to postmasters as quickly as possible

  • for the purposes of this data publication, the number of claims received/offers made/settled therefore do not necessarily correspond to the number of individuals who have received monies – as one individual may have received an interim payment, a non-pecuniary settlement and a pecuniary settlement, each of which would be counted as ‘one’ claim/offer/settlement

• Group Litigation Order Scheme (GLO)

  • there are 492 postmasters currently eligible for the Group Litigation Order Scheme. The remaining 63 postmasters who were members of the Group Litigation Order have convictions and are therefore eligible to apply for compensation once their conviction has been overturned. 473 of the 492 have received their share of the £19.5 million interim payment announced June 2022. To note, 8 claimants in addition to the 473 have received 0 value payments. Work continues on the remaining payments in complex categories such as those recently deceased and non-responders.

• Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS):

  • Post Office received 2,417 eligible claims to the HSS before the application closure date of 27 November 2020. Post Office continued to receive late applications after the closure date and in October 2022, the government announced that additional funding would be provided so that these late claimants could be compensated. Post Office has received 264 eligible late claims to date

  • interim payments on the HSS are available before and after claimants receive an offer of compensation. The £79 million paid out on the HSS includes £13.9 million in interim payments to original claimants and £0.3 million in interim payments to late applications

Further data from the Post Office is available on:

• compensation for those with overturned convictions

• the Horizon Shortfall Scheme