Post Office Horizon redress legal costs data as of 31 March 2025
Updated 7 July 2025
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1. Legal costs paid in scheme delivery
The following table shows the legal costs for the operational delivery of the Horizon redress schemes. As of 31 March 2025, a total of £98.8 million has been paid in legal costs to administer the schemes.
The figures include any legal costs incurred across scheme set up, claim assessment, facilitation, and dispute resolution. These costs are exclusive of the legal and professional services fees paid on behalf of claimants, presented in section 2.
| Scheme | Legal costs (£ million) |
As equivalent % of redress paid |
|---|---|---|
| Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS) | £74.2 | 16% |
| Overturned Convictions (OC) | £17.1 | 26% |
| Group Litigation Order (GLO) | £7.1 | 5% |
| Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme (HCRS) | £0.3 | less than 1% |
| Total | £98.8 | 11% |
1.1 Notes for table
In this table:
-
information correct as of 31 March 2025, subject to audit
-
figures are inclusive of non-recoverable VAT
-
spend is rounded to the nearest £100,000 – subtotals may not sum to totals due to rounding
-
percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole number
-
data regarding the HSS and OC is sourced from Post Office Ltd, which retains full responsibility for the data it provides
-
the HCRS and GLO redress payments data reflects the current position at a point in time – it should be noted that these totals can change slightly as time goes on
-
the data on redress paid in the same period can be found in the publication for financial redress data – percentages shown represent the legal fees expressed as an equivalent proportion of the redress paid to claimants as of 31 March 2025
2. Legal and professional services fees paid on behalf of claimants
The following table shows the legal fees and other professional services costs paid on behalf of claimants, separate from the legal costs associated with operational delivery, presented in section 1. As of 31 March, the total professional fees paid was £38.0 million.
The figures include the sums paid to claimant legal representatives, as well as any disbursements to other services an applicant may require to articulate their claim. For example, medical experts, forensic accountants, surveyors, and any other relevant technical experts.
| Scheme | Total professional fees (£ million) |
As equivalent % of redress paid |
|---|---|---|
| Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS) | £4.1 | 1% |
| Overturned Convictions (OC) | £6.7 | 10% |
| Group Litigation Order (GLO) | £17.1 | 11% |
| Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme (HCRS) | £10.2 | 5% |
| Total | £38.0 | 4% |
2.1 Notes for table
In this table:
-
information correct as of 31 March 2025, subject to audit
-
figures are inclusive of non-recoverable VAT
-
spend is rounded to the nearest £100,000 – subtotals may not sum to totals due to rounding
-
percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole number
-
data regarding the HSS and OC is sourced from Post Office Ltd, which retains full responsibility for the data it provides
-
the HCRS and GLO redress payments data reflects the current position at a point in time – it should be noted that these totals can change slightly as time goes on
-
the data on redress paid in the same period can be found in the publication for financial redress data – percentages shown represent the legal fees expressed as an equivalent proportion of the redress paid to claimants as of 31 March 2025
3. Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS)
The Post Office launched the Horizon Shortfall Scheme for current and former postmasters in May 2020, which closed to formal applications in August 2020. There was an extension until November 2020 for applications following a clarification on the eligibility criteria. The scheme remains open to late applications.
Claimants can claim funding for legal support on receipt of their offer.
Reasonable legal fees (including advice on bankruptcy and insolvency if applicable) are reimbursed should claimants wish to dispute a full assessment offer.
4. Overturned Convictions (OC)
The Overturned Convictions scheme provides redress to individuals whose Horizon-related convictions have been overturned in the courts, and to those who were prosecuted on Horizon-related grounds but were not convicted. The scheme is currently delivered by the Post Office and funded by by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), which has oversight of offers made.
From 3 June 2025, the Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme, delivered by DBT, will broaden its scope and take on responsibility for redress for postmasters who have had their convictions overturned by the courts. Claims for redress under the Post Office’s Overturned Convictions scheme will be transferred into the HCRS and the Post Office will cease to be involved in the administration of redress for overturned convictions.
Eligible individuals are encouraged to seek legal representation to advise them throughout the process. Reasonable legal fees are covered.
5. Group Limitation Order (GLO)
The GLO scheme launched in March 2023 and is an ex gratia claims-based scheme, delivered by DBT, for postmasters who were part of the action Alan Bates and Others v Post Office Ltd pursued under a Group Litigation Order, and who do not have a Horizon-related conviction.
The government has agreed to meet the reasonable legal costs of members of the GLO claiming for additional compensation under the scheme. Claimable costs are set out in the tariff of reasonable legal costs.
6. Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme (HCRS)
The Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme (HCRS) provides financial redress to those postmasters whose convictions were quashed by Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024 or Post Office (Horizon System) Offences (Scotland) Act 2024.
The scheme is open on a UK-wide basis and is administered by DBT.
Eligible individuals are encouraged to seek legal representation to advise them throughout the process.
DBT will cover reasonable legal costs. We have a legal costs framework, which sets out how much of the costs we will cover depending on the type of application.
We strongly advise that claimants check that a solicitor is happy to operate within the terms of the costs framework before instructing them. If a claimant hires a solicitor who does not commit to work within our costs framework, they could pursue the claimant for some of their fees from the financial redress settlement.
The Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme (HCRS): legal cost framework lists the firms which have agreed to work within the terms of the costs framework. This means they have also committed not to make any deductions from the financial redress settlement claimants receive.
7. Post Office data
This data is part of DBT’s Post Office Horizon financial redress data collection.
The department publishes independent reports, written by Dentons, on the GLO scheme.
The Ministry of Justice publishes Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024: quashed convictions management information.
Post Office Ltd also publishes: