The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has finally advertised for an independent reviewer to look at the DWP’s prosecutions of subpostmasters, seven months after announcing the review.
In its announcement, the DWP stated that it wants the reviewer to examine its “activities relating to Post Office staff prosecutions” during the period that the controversial Horizon system was used.
The DWP worked with the Post Office to prosecute subpostmasters accused of financial crime related to benefits, and there is a belief among peers and campaigners that these prosecutions could be unsafe and are in need of review.
The DWP said in August last year that it would review its prosecutions of subpostmasters in light of the Post Office scandal and the overturning of hundreds of wrongful convictions.
In its announcement today, seven months later, it said the review will look over prosecutions in the period from 23 September 1996 up to when the Crown Prosecution Service took over DWP prosecutions in March 2012.
Around 100 subpostmasters and staff were prosecuted by the DWP with support from the Post Office. The DWP said it has recovered material and reviewed cases, but has so far not found evidence that it used Horizon data to prosecute subpostmasters or branch staff.
The DWP said Horizon did not play an essential role in any of its prosecutions, but that it wants “an additional layer of assurance”, adding: “The independent reviewer will assess whether the department’s approach has been thorough and robust. Following discussion with the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board, individuals and organisations will also have the opportunity to submit information directly to the reviewer.
“Since 2022, DWP has searched its archives, reviewed thousands of files and written to courts to recover relevant material. That work also found no evidence that Horizon data played an essential role in any of its prosecutions.”
Hundreds of Horizon system-related convictions of subpostmasters have been overturned since the first group of six in December 2020. The review will not overturn convictions, but it can refer the matters to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) and/or the Court of Appeal. The CCRC is reviewing and has already referred subpostmaster convictions based on the Horizon system, the Capture system and the APT/APS system.
Applications for the role of reviewer are open until 13 April 2026.
Speaking to Computer Weekly in January, Neil Hudgell, lawyer at Hudgell Solicitors, which represents hundreds of Post Office scandal victims, said the DWP is “dragging its feet” and his law firm is pursuing its own investigations on behalf of clients, already having “a couple of cases lined up” to send to the CCRC.
“We’ve unearthed some interesting things that we think impact the safety of convictions, so we’re not waiting around on DWP themselves,” said Hudgell. “Someone needs to lean on the DWP, because it’s not good enough. [The longer it takes,] the more suspicion subpostmasters have that there’s something to hide.”
The Post Office Horizon scandal was first exposed by Computer Weekly in 2009, revealing the stories of seven subpostmasters and the problems they suffered due to accounting software (see below timeline of all Computer Weekly articles about the Horizon scandal, since 2009).
