Transparency data

Post Office Horizon compensation data: April 2024

Updated 26 April 2024

The government is determined that postmasters affected by the Horizon IT scandal receive the compensation that they deserve. As of 31 March 2024, approximately £190 million has been paid to over 2,800 claimants across 3 schemes: 

• Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS): £111 million
• Group Litigation Order (GLO) Scheme: £39 million total value of all payments including interim payments
• Overturned Convictions (OC): 103 convictions have been overturned; £41 million total value of all payments including further interim payments

Claim data by scheme 

Scheme	Claims received	Offers made	Offers accepted	Claims paid
Overturned Convictions (OC): initial interim payments	99 [+2]	97 [+2]	96 [+6]	96 [+6]
Overturned Convictions (OC): full and final settlements	49 [+4]	41 [+4]	37 [+2]	37 [+2]
Group Litigation Order Scheme (GLO): initial interim payment	N/A	N/A	N/A	476-483*
Group Litigation Order Scheme (GLO): full and final	153 [+21]	148 [+20]	132 [+22]	117 [+37]
Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS): eligible claims before deadline	2417 [-]	2417 [-]	2057 [+2]	2053 [+4]
Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS): eligible late claims	556 [+109]	275 [+33]	164 [+13]	155 [+6]

Information correct as of 31 March 2024. Changes from last month in square brackets. 
[-] indicates no change since last month. *For disclosure reasons, the exact number of claims paid is now withheld.

Notes for table 

In the above table: 

• spend is rounded to nearest £1 million
• 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
  • a ‘full’ settlement comprises both pecuniary (financial) and non-pecuniary (personal) losses, but the Post Office has been progressing non-pecuniary settlements first to get money to postmasters as quickly as possible, which means a number of partial settlements have been reached in addition to the full and final settlements published here
• the department is now publishing data on full and final settlements. Claims received are no longer being broken down into pecuniary and non-pecuniary settlements as in previous months
• Group Litigation Order (GLO) Scheme:
  • 63 postmasters (out of the 555 who were members of the Group Litigation Order) had convictions and are therefore eligible to apply for compensation once their conviction has been overturned. The remaining 492 postmasters are currently eligible for the Group Litigation Order Scheme, of whom 484 qualify for interim payments. Progress continues to be made on distributing shares of the £19.5 million interim payments announced in June 2022. For disclosure reasons, the exact number of claims paid is now withheld. This month, the number of payments has not increased
  • work continues on the remaining payments in complex categories such as those recently deceased and people who have not taken up the offer of an interim payment
• 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 556 eligible late claims to date
  • interim payments on the HSS are available before and after claimants receive an offer of compensation. The £111 million paid out on the HSS includes £26.3 million in interim payments to original claimants and £5.6 million in interim payments to late applications

GLO Scheme Delivery Target 

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is committed to a target of making a first offer to 90% of claimants who have submitted a full claim within 40 working days. A full claim is defined as a claim which DBT considers, with advice from its legal advisors, does not need any further evidence in order to assess every element of the claim. Should the department consider further evidence is needed in order to make a full assessment, the 40-working day target will not start until such time that the required evidence is received from the claimant or any other source. 

As of 31 March 2024, 89% of claimants received their first offer within 40 working days of submitting a full claim.

GLO Scheme £75,000 fixed payment impact   

Due to changes made in January 2024, all eligible GLO claimants are now offered the option to settle their claims on a full and final basis for a total fixed sum of £75,000 inclusive of interest, instead of making a claim for their individual losses.  

This means that the claim would not be assessed by the department against the process set out in the guidance and principles.  

Any payments received from the department to date or from the GLO settlement will be deducted from the £75,000 before payment is made.  

As of 31 March 2024, 132 offers have been accepted. Over 120 of these have accepted offers of the £75,000 fixed payment. Of those who have accepted the £75,000 fixed payment, four fifths are new claims and a fifth had previously accepted offers.  

Post Office data 

Find further data on: 

• compensation for those with overturned convictions
• the Horizon Shortfall Scheme
• Post Office Horizon compensation data collection