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Guidance for applicants to the Horizon Family Member Redress Scheme

Published 16 July 2026

Overview

In July 2025, the government committed to establishing a scheme to provide redress for family members of postmasters who were most affected by the Horizon scandal.

You may be eligible to apply for the Horizon Family Members Redress Scheme if you are a close family member of a postmaster who is an existing Horizon claimant, and you lived with them when they were affected by Horizon.

How the scheme works

The scheme has two routes to redress:

• events-based claims
• fully assessed personal injury claims

Events-based claims

This route provides flat-rate payments for applicants whose postmaster relative was awarded financial compensation for one or more qualifying events caused by the Horizon scandal.

The qualifying events are:

• bankruptcy (including Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs) and equivalent procedures used elsewhere in the UK)
• malicious prosecution, conviction or imprisonment
• death caused by Horizon

Fully assessed personal injury claims

This route provides individually assessed compensation for applicants who can demonstrate that they suffered a personal injury as a result of the Horizon scandal.

Further information about both claim routes, and how to make a personal injury claim, will be published later in the year, once claims processing has begun.

Eligibility for the scheme

You can register for the Horizon Family Members Redress Scheme if you meet all of the following conditions:

• you’re a close family member of an existing Horizon claimant
• you lived continuously with your postmaster relative for at least one year during the period in which they were affected by Horizon – except in cases involving death caused by Horizon, where cohabitation is not required
• your postmaster relative received compensation for a qualifying event or you experienced a personal injury (for example, a mental or physical health condition) caused by Horizon

For the purposes of this scheme, close family members are defined as:

• spouses (including ex-spouses who were married to the postmaster when issues with Horizon occurred)
• partners (including ex-partners who were in a relationship with the postmaster when issues with Horizon occurred)
• parents
• siblings
• children (including adoptive and stepchildren)

An existing Horizon claimant is someone who has successfully received compensation through one of the following schemes:

• Group Litigation Order (GLO) Scheme
• Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme (HCRS)
• Overturned Convictions (OC) Scheme
• Horizon Shortfalls Scheme (HSS)

If you are unsure whether your postmaster relative has applied for, or received, compensation through one of the schemes listed above, you can still register. This will be checked as part of the eligibility process.

To be eligible for an events-based claim

You must have lived continuously with your postmaster relative for at least one year.

This period must overlap with the period from when the qualifying event began until 5 years after it ended. If your postmaster relative experienced more than one qualifying event, this period runs from the start of the first event until 5 years after the last event ended. 

To be eligible for a fully assessed personal injury claim

You must have lived continuously with your postmaster family member for at least one year during the period in which the personal injury was caused. 

This period cannot begin before your postmaster family member took on their branch or before Horizon was installed at the branch, whichever happened later.

Who is not eligible

You cannot register for the Horizon Family Members Redress Scheme if you have:

• a criminal conviction related to Horizon
• already been awarded compensation under an existing Horizon scheme as a postmaster (business partners may be entitled to claim, even if they received an award under another scheme)

Due to problems with obtaining sufficient evidence, we cannot accept estate claims on behalf of family members who have died.

Registering for the scheme

Registration for the Horizon Family Members Redress Scheme is now open. You will be asked to provide basic information about yourself and your postmaster relative as part of the registration process. This information will be used to start work on your case when scheme begins processing claims later this year once a third-party supplier has been appointed to administer the scheme.

Registration does not confirm your eligibility for the scheme. Eligibility will be determined once claims processing begins.

Before your claim can be assessed, the supplier will contact you to request further information and supporting documents to:

• verify your identity
• confirm your eligibility
• assess your claim, where applicable

You do not need to provide this additional information when registering. Further guidance on evidence and documentation required will be published before claims processing begins.

How to register

Complete the registration form to apply to the Horizon Family Members Redress Scheme.

Read the privacy notice to find out how the information you provide will be used.

Only use the link on the official GOV.UK website to fill in the online form. Do not use links from emails, texts or other websites. If you are unsure, you can find more guidance on the Horizon Family Members Redress Scheme.

Registering for someone else

Applicants who are either under 18 at the time of registration or do not have capacity, for any reason, to manage their own application must have a personal representative, who is responsible for managing their application on their behalf.

The personal representative must be both:

• over 18 years old and have capacity to manage the application themselves
• in a formal caring capacity for the applicant (for example, the applicant’s parent) or have legal authority to manage their affairs (for example, they have power of attorney over the applicant’s assets).

Further guidance on the documents you will need to provide to prove that you have the legal right to make decisions on behalf of the applicant will be published in due course.

After you’ve registered

You will receive updates through email on scheme delivery. Once our third-party supplier is in place later this year, you’ll be asked to provide documents to prove your identity and eligibility.

Preparing documents and evidence

You do not need to provide any supporting documents, like proof of identification, at registration. However, you will need to provide this information once a supplier is in place to begin processing claims later this year.

Ahead of this, you could start preparing the documents you will be asked to provide for identification and verification checks.

1. Photo identification

You will need to provide one of the following:

• current valid passport for any country
• current biometric residence permit for the UK
• current full or provisional photo card driving licence from the UK, Isle of Man or Channel Islands

2. Proof of current address

You will need to provide 2 of the following:

• current full or provisional paper driving licence from the UK, Isle of Man or Channel Islands only
• mortgage statement – UK only (issued in the last 3 months)
• financial statement, for example, a pension or endowment – UK only (issued in the last 12 months)
• a statement from central or local government showing you are entitled to benefits (UK and Channel Islands only, issued in last 3 months)
• bank statement – this must be a paper copy (issued within the last 3 months)
• bank or building society account opening confirmation letter – this must be a paper copy
• original utility bill – this must be a paper copy (issued within the last 3 months)
• benefit statement – UK only (issued in the last 3 months)
• P45 or P60 statement
• Council Tax bill from UK and Channel Islands only (issued in the last 12 months) – this must be a paper copy and dated from the current year

3. Proof of relationship with the postmaster

You will be contacted by the supplier with clear instructions regarding what information you will need to provide.

You will be asked to provide copies of these documents rather than the original documents.

If you do not currently hold a birth, marriage or civil partnership certificate you can order one from the:

• General Register Office, for England and Wales
• National Records of Scotland
• General Register Office for Northern Ireland

If you are a parent or child

You will need to provide one of the following:

• birth certificate
• adoption certificate

If you are a stepchild

You will need to provide one of the following:

• birth certificate showing the name of your parent, together with a marriage certificate or civil partnership certificate showing the names of that parent and the postmaster
• Parental Responsibility Agreement or Order showing the name of the postmaster

If you are a sibling

You will need to provide both your birth certificate and the birth certificate of the postmaster showing that you share at least one parent.

If you are a spouse or former spouse

You will need to provide one of the following:

• marriage or civil partnership certificate
• sworn affidavit
• evidence from religious leader
• celebrant of marriage
• decree absolute

If you are a partner or former partner

You will need to provide one of the following:

• joint mortgage or tenancy agreement
• utility bills
• joint bank account statement

Countersignatory requirements

Each piece of evidence you provide must be signed by a countersignatory or legal representative.

In the case of a countersignatory, they must:

• have known you for at least 2 years
• be able to identify you, for example they are a friend, neighbour or colleague
• be ‘a person of good standing in their community’ or work in (or be retired from) a recognised profession

Your countersignatory cannot be:

• related to you by birth or marriage
• in a relationship with you
• someone who lives at the same address as you

A full list of accepted countersignatory occupations will be shared in due course.

Legal advice

The events-based claim route has been designed to be simple and straightforward for applicants, meaning you should not need legal advice to complete it.

Free legal advice will first be available once an events-based offer has been made, to help you decide whether to accept the offer or pursue a fully assessed personal injury claim.

If you are not eligible for the events-based route but have been deemed eligible for the scheme and wish to submit a fully assessed personal injury claim, you will be able to access free legal advice to support your application.

Some law firms may offer to register you as a client before you are entitled to free legal advice but may not be able to undertake any significant work before they receive funds for their work.

Department for Business and Trade (DBT) strongly recommends that you do not offer to pay a percentage of your award in return for advice on your case. If you are approached by a person or company about this, contact familymembersredress@businessandtrade.gov.uk.

Further information on legal advice arrangements will be published in due course.

If you need help

If you need any help with the registration form or have any questions, email familymembersredress@businessandtrade.gov.uk.