The government said on 21 October that postmasters whose Horizon shortfall claims are rejected or settled at the £75,000 fixed sum will have an independent assessor review their case, as it reported more than £1.7bn paid to over 14,000 claimants.
A written statement to Parliament said 87% of Horizon claims received had been settled, and that redress had been agreed for nearly 90% of the group who worked with Sir Alan Bates to bring the original Horizon case.
The Department for Business and Trade put the figure at approximately £1,731m paid as of 30 September, with over £9m paid on the Capture redress scheme.
The Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS) Appeals process is expected to launch in November for postmasters who accepted the £75,000 Fixed Sum Offer. Claimants and their representatives will have four months from launch, or from receipt of their offer if later, to register.
Claimants are asked to provide a short written narrative explaining why £75,000 undervalued their claim. An Independent Assessor, who the statement said is “independent of both the Government and the Post Office”, will decide whether permission to appeal is granted. If it is, the claim will be assessed in full.
An earlier department announcement said claimants would not risk being paid less than the £75,000 already received, and that free legal advice and support would be available. To qualify there must be evidence that it is more likely than not that a Horizon shortfall took place.
The department said the process responds to Recommendation 9 of the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry Volume 1 report, published in July 2025 by Sir Wyn Williams, which the government accepted in its October 2025 response.
By the time of that announcement, more than £940m had been paid to over 11,000 claimants on the HSS, with a further £11m in award uplifts through the HSS Appeals scheme.
A separate Shortfall Independent Review is due to begin in late October. It follows the review of Fixed Sum Offer cases with little or no evidence of a shortfall, published in May 2026 by Sir Gary Hickinbottom, the Independent Senior Lawyer for the HSS.
He recommended that where Post Office considers evidence insufficient to make an offer, that decision should be independently reviewed before a claim is rejected.
The government and Post Office accepted the recommendation in full. The statement said eligible cases will go to an assessor independent of both, and that “no claimant will be refused HSS redress based on Post Office’s decision alone”.
Sir Gary was appointed in December 2025, and the department and Post Office referred the handling of cases without shortfall evidence to him for review.
The statement also set submission deadlines. The Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme will close to new submissions from 31 July 2027, three years after its launch. The Capture Redress Scheme will close to new applications from 31 March 2027, approximately 18 months after it opened. Claims submitted before those dates will continue to be progressed to conclusion.
Registration for the Horizon Family Members Redress Scheme opened in July, with claims processing expected to begin early next year. A further announcement on how it will operate is to follow.
The government has begun commissioning an independent investigation into accounting software used before Horizon, following a recommendation from the Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee. It is expected to report in Spring 2027.
Post Office minister Kate Dearden said in the department’s announcement: “We remain unwavering in our commitment to provide fair, comprehensive and timely redress to all those affected and ensure that a scandal like this never happens again.”
Further guidance on how eligible postmasters can register for the appeals process will be published when it launches.