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Policy paper

Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill: supporting documents

Supporting documentation for legislation which will quash the wrongful convictions of those affected by the Post Office Horizon IT scandal.

Updates to this page

From:
Department for Business and Trade and Post Office
Published:
13 March 2024
Last updated:
8 May 2024
Show all updates

  1. Updated to reflect that all documents apply to England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Financial redress factsheet also applies to Scotland.

  2. On 29 April 2024, the House of Commons agreed to extend the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill to Northern Ireland. This means that convictions for "relevant offences" in Northern Ireland will be quashed when the Bill comes into force. The following changes have been made to the Bill overview factsheet, Financial redress factsheet, Equalities statement and Impact assessment to reflect the extension of the Bill: references to Northern Ireland have been added throughout the documents; in the Bill overview factsheet, the section 'How will these measures apply across the United Kingdom' has been replaced; references to the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland or the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland have been added throughout the documents. This reflects the fact that new legislation will quash all convictions prosecuted by these bodies; in the Impact assessment, clarification has been given that monetised costs are specific to administration of the Bill in England and Wales only. Figures relating to financial redress have been updated to reflect the most recent statistics. Figures are now accurate to 24 April 2024. A section on Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights has been added which discusses the European Convention on Human Rights implications of this Article in relation to the Bill.

  3. Links to each compensation scheme added to the Financial redress factsheet.

  4. Impact assessment added to documents list.

  5. First published.

This was published under the 2022 to 2024 Sunak Conservative government

Applies to England, Northern Ireland and Wales

Documents

Bill overview factsheet: Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill

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Horizon scandal factsheet: Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill

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European Convention on Human Rights Memorandum: Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill

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Financial redress factsheet: Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill

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Equalities statement: Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill

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Impact assessment: Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill

PDF, 230 KB, 11 pages

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Details

On 10 January 2024, the Prime Minister announced a major step forward in the government’s response to the Post Office Horizon IT scandal. The Prime Minister confirmed that the government will introduce new primary legislation to make sure that those convicted as a result of the Horizon scandal, which began in the 1990s, are swiftly exonerated and compensated. Our announcement attracted widespread support in both Houses of Parliament and beyond.

The Bill, which was introduced to Parliament on 13 March 2024, will quash the convictions of those within scope of the defined criteria set out within the legislation. It will extend to England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland prosecutions in this matter were undertaken by the relevant authorities in those legal jurisdictions. The UK government believes that victims in those jurisdictions are best served by local decisions tailored to the judicial systems in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Compensation will be paid on a UK-wide basis.

These supporting documents provide additional information to inform Parliament and public as to the potential impacts of this legislation.

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