Transparency data

Post Office Horizon redress legal costs data as of 30 June 2026

Updated 14 August 2026

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 30 June 2026, a total of £126.1 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)	£90.6 [+£1.9]	9% [-]
Overturned Convictions (OC)	£17.6 [£0.0]	26% [-]
Group Litigation Order (GLO)	£11.2 [+£0.2]	5% [-]
Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme (HCRS)	£1.7 [+£0.4]	1% [-]
Horizon Shortfall Scheme Appeals (HSSA)	£3.9 [+£0.8]	28% [-18]
Capture Redress Scheme	£1.1 [+£0.2]	13% [-]
Total	£126.1 [+£3.4]	8% [-]

1.1 Notes for table

In this table:

• information correct as of 30 June 2026, 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 Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS) and Overturned Convictions (OC) scheme is sourced from Post Office Ltd, which retains full responsibility for the data it provides
• the OC scheme formally closed on 2 June 2025. From 3 June 2025, responsibility for administering redress claims relating to OC formally transferred from Post Office Ltd to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST). Any OC claims that had not been fully settled as of 3 June 2025 are now being managed under the Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme (HCRS). These claims are now reflected in HCRS data
• 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 up to 26 June 2026 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 30 June 2026. This report reflects retrospective adjustments to end-month figures published in the monthly financial redress data publication. This means that implied redress paid here may differ from published values in the corresponding redress data publication
• BIST expect Horizon Shortfall Scheme Appeals (HSSA) legal costs as a share of redress to fall substantially as the scheme progresses. The current high share is the result of initial legal costs paid for scheme set-up and progression of cases, compared to relatively few cases being settled and paid at this early stage of scheme delivery
• Legal fees for HSSA and HCRS have been corrected from last quarter, when non-legal fees were included in the total. Figures quoted above are based on a comparison to the correct Q4 value

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 30 June 2026, the total professional fees paid was £56.5 million.

The figures include the sums paid to claimant legal representatives, as well as any disbursements to other services that an applicant may require to articulate their claim (for example, medical experts, forensic accountants, surveyors, and any other relevant technical experts).

Eligible individuals applying to the department’s schemes (GLO, HCRS, HSSA and Capture) are encouraged to seek legal representation to advise them throughout the process. The department will cover reasonable legal costs through published tariffs which set out the amounts payable for each type of application. Firms operating under these tariffs have committed not to make any deductions from the financial redress settlement claimants receive. The department strongly advises claimants to check that a solicitor is happy to operate within the terms of the relevant tariff before instructing them. The tariffs list the firms which have agreed to work within the terms of the costs framework.

The tariffs are available at the links below:

• Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme (HCRS): legal cost framework
• Group Litigation Order (GLO) Compensation Scheme: tariff of reasonable legal costs
• Horizon Shortfall Scheme Appeals (HSSA): tariff of reasonable legal costs
• Capture Redress Scheme legal costs framework

Scheme	Claimant legal fees (£ million)	Disbursements (£ million)	Total professional fees (£ million)	As equivalent % of redress paid
Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS)	£4.7 [+£0.4]	£3.4 [+£0.1]	£8.1 [+£0.5]	1% [-]
Overturned Convictions (OC)	£5.6 [-]	£1.3 [-]	£6.9 [-]	10% [-]
Group Litigation Order (GLO)	£12 [+£0.8]	£7.1 [+£0.1]	£19.1 [+£0.9]	8% [-1]
Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme (HCRS)	£16.5 [+£1.1]	£0.2 [+£0.1]	£16.7 [+£1.2]	5% [-1]
Horizon Shortfall Scheme Appeals (HSSA)	£4.7 [+£1.1]	£0.4 [+£0.4]	£5.1 [+£1.5]	37% [-16]
Capture Redress Scheme	£0.6 [+£0.3]	£0	£0.6 [+£0.3]	8% [-]
Total	£44.1 [+£3.7]	£12.4 [+£0.7]	£56.5 [+£4.4]	3% [-]

2.1 Notes for table

In this table:

• [ ] shows movement from previous quarter
• information correct as of 30 June 2026, 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 are sourced from Post Office Ltd, which retains full responsibility for the data it provides.
• the OC scheme formally closed on 2 June 2025. From 3 June 2025, responsibility for administering redress claims relating to OC has formally transferred from Post Office Ltd to the department. Post Office Ltd is responsible for paying claimant legal fees incurred to 2 June, while costs incurred from 3 June onwards will be paid by the department and recorded in HCRS data
• the HCRS and GLO redress payments data reflect 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 up to 26 June 2026 can be found in the publication for financial redress data
• percentages shown represent the professional fees expressed as an equivalent proportion of the redress paid to claimants as of 30 June 2026. Please note, this report reflects retrospective adjustments to end-month figures published in the monthly financial redress data publication. This means that implied redress paid here may differ from published values in the corresponding redress data publication
• BIST expect HSSA professional service fees as a share of redress to fall substantially as the scheme progresses. The current high share is the result of payments to claimants’ legal representatives to begin supporting claims and disbursements for expert evidence reports, compared to relatively few cases being settled and paid at this early stage of scheme delivery

3. Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS)

The Post Office launched the HSS for current and former postmasters in May 2020. It originally closed to formal applications in November 2020, but was re-opened to allow for additional applications to be submitted. As of 31 January 2026, the scheme is now closed to new 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.

3.1 Horizon Shortfall Scheme Appeals (HSSA)

The HSSA has been open for applications since the end of April 2025.

The government has agreed to meet the reasonable legal costs of those applying to HSSA. Claimable costs are set out in the tariff of reasonable legal costs.

4. Group Litigation Order (GLO) scheme

The GLO scheme launched in March 2023 and is an ex gratia claims-based scheme, delivered by the department, for postmasters who were part of the High Court GLO action Alan Bates and Others v Post Office Ltd 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.

The scheme closed to new applications on 31 July 2026. The scheme ends on 31 December 2026.

5. Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme (HCRS)

The HCRS provides financial redress to those postmasters whose convictions were quashed by the 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 the department.

6. Overturned Convictions (OC) scheme

The OC scheme formally closed on 2 June 2025. From 3 June 2025, responsibility for administering redress claims relating to overturned convictions has formally transferred from Post Office Ltd to the department.

Prior to the OC scheme closing, there were 111 claimants eligible for financial redress who had their convictions overturned by the courts. As of 31 October 2024, all 111 eligible claimants had either reached full and final settlement or received a minimum of £200,000 through interim payments.

The 40 claims not fully settled as of 2 June 2025 are now being administered through the HCRS. All future legal costs incurred on these outstanding claims will be reported under the HCRS as part of these publications.

7. Capture Redress Scheme (CRS)

The Capture Redress Scheme (CRS) has been open for applications since the end of October 2025.

The government has agreed to meet the reasonable legal costs of those applying to the CRS. Claimable costs are set out in the Capture Redress Scheme legal costs framework

8. Post Office data

This data is part of the department’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:

• updates on the Horizon Shortfall Scheme
• FAQs including reports on Horizon financial redress