Official inquiry finds Post Office scandal had “disastrous impact on victims”
The official inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal has “laid bare” what was known by senior Post Office officials about the faulty computer system.
The first volume of the final inquiry report was released on Tuesday 8th July, as inquiry chair Sir Wyn Williams proposed sweeping reforms on the process of delivering redress.
The 160-page report begins with comment from Sir Wyn Williams stating he was satisfied senior employees and other less senior employees of the Post Office “knew or at the least should have known” the IT system was capable of errors, despite individuals being “very reluctant” to accept this during giving evidence.
He also described the “wholly unacceptable behaviour” of a number of individuals, as well as saying a “large proportion of claims continue to be difficult to resolve”.
In a statement, Post Office Chair, Nigel Railton issued a “clear and unequivocal apology to every single person affected” by the scandal.
“The Horizon Scandal is not one event. Lots of people made choices over two decades which caused serious harm to so many people,” he said.
“Post Office did not listen to postmasters and, as an organisation, we let them down. Postmasters and their families have suffered years of pain. It has taken them too long to clear their names and, in many cases, to receive redress.
“I welcome Sir Wyn’s report, and I am grateful to those postmasters who gave evidence to the Inquiry. It is through their personal stories that we understand the human impact of this scandal.
“I will do everything in my power to make sure that affected postmasters receive the redress they are entitled to, as soon as possible.”
Mr Railton added that Post Office would carefully review the report and provide a full response to the Inquiry by 10th October 2025.
As reported in the news, Sir Wyn said the pictured painted by his report is “profoundly disturbing” and he expressed his gratitude for the “interest shown in this inquiry”.
It has been revealed that the inquiry chair’s legal team found that until June this year, 9887 claims have been made, with 6420 accepted, with Sir Wyn describing the delays to compensation and its processes as “egregious”.
Sir Wyn’s report has outlined some startling details, with the BBC reporting that 59 sub-postmasters contemplated suicide and 13 took their own lives.
Described as the most “widespread miscarriage of justice in British legal history”, sub-postmasters were wrongly accused of stealing money from the Post Office, with hundreds wrongly accused of theft, fraud and false accounting.
Some 19 Post Office workers in Northern Ireland were convicted, but it is believed there were more victims of the scandal who have not come forward.
