The Post Office scandal: government considering quashing convictions of sub-postmasters - what has Sunak said?

Government ministers will meet today to discuss ways to exonerate hundreds of subpostmasters wrongfully convicted in the Horizon IT scandal.

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk is set to meet with Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake to discuss how to help the convicted branch managers. More than 700 subpostmasters were given criminal convictions after faulty Fujitsu accounting software called Horizon made it appear as though money was missing from their shops.

The Post Office relentlessly pursued its staff through the courts, with many spending time in jail and some even committing suicide. It has been described as the biggest miscarriage of justice in modern British history.

There has been fresh public backlash to the scandal after ITV aired the drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, starring actor Toby Jones. Reports suggest since the show aired, 50 new potential victims have approached lawyers. Questions have been asked why it has taken a TV show for the government to act in a scandal which has been going on for decades.

The Met Police said on Friday evening that officers are “investigating potential fraud offences arising out of these prosecutions”, for example “monies recovered from sub-postmasters as a result of prosecutions or civil actions”. It had been looking into potential offences of perjury and perverting the course of justice before the TV show aired.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also supported calls for the former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells to have her CBE assessed. A petition calling for this has reached more than one million signatures. Sunak’s official spokesman said: “The PM shares the public’s strength of feeling of outrage on this issue, he would strongly support the forfeiture committee if it chose to review the case.”

What is the Post Office Horizon scandal?

The Post Office scandal is one of the UK's biggest miscarriages of justice. It began in 1999 when the Post Office adapted a new electronic accounting system called Horizon, produced by Fujitsu. Software glitches caused it to wrongly show financial discrepancies worth thousands, meaning that Post Office branch managers were left responsible as the system suggested huge amounts of cash had suddenly disappeared. 

The Post Office consistently told the sub-postmasters that no other staff members had issues - when in fact hundreds were left with the same problem all over the country. From 2000 until 2014, more than 700 sub-postmasters were prosecuted by the Post Office, with some left to spend their life savings on the shortfall and 263 were imprisoned. At least four people committed suicide. 

In 2019, campaigners took the Post Office to court, with the judge ruling that postmasters were prosecuted based on data from the flawed Horizon IT system. It was ordered to pay around £60 million to 555 victims, however the Post Office’s astronomical legal fees meant many subpostmasters got minimal compensation with others dying during the process. A public inquiry into the Post Office scandal is still ongoing, with phase 4 set to continue on January 11, 2024.

What has the government said?

On Sunday, Sunak said that the government was looking at the possibility of quashing the hundreds of convictions of sub-postmasters. He told the BBC: “The Justice Secretary is looking at the things that you’ve described. It wouldn’t be right to pre-empt that process. There is legal complexity in all of those things but he is looking at exactly those areas.”

Speaking later during a visit to Oxford on Sunday, the Prime Minister said the UK Government was “keen to do everything we can because this was absolutely appalling” and should “never have happened”.

He told broadcasters: “It has been an appalling miscarriage of justice and appalling treatment of all the people affected and it is right that they get the redress that they deserve. That is why the Government has put in place three different compensation schemes that have already paid out almost £150 million to thousands of people who are affected, and are keen to go as quickly as possible.”

Chalk and Hollinrake are meeting around lunchtime today (8 January) to discuss the issue. Sunak’s official spokesman said: “Lord Chancellor is obviously troubled by the rate of successful appeals amongst sub-postmasters, he’s looking at the full options available to speed up and secure justice.” Hollinrake will give a statement to Parliament later on in the day.

Sir Keir Starmer said Labour would support any legislation which would help quash wrongful convictions. He told broadcasters: “I think the whole Post Office prosecution scandal is exactly that, a scandal, with a massive impact on human lives. I know one of the individuals affected who had a stroke, because of the intense pressure that this was causing.

“So we’ve got to get ahead of this, I think there’s three things now that need to be done: Compensation needs to be paid, that’s already allocated for in the Treasury – they need to get on and pay that.

“I think that the prosecution should be taken out of the hands of the Post Office and given to the Crown Prosecution Service. I used to run the Crown Prosecution Service, we’ve prosecuted for other departments, we can do it here – that should be done straightaway. And these convictions, the remaining convictions need to be looked at en masse.”

More than a million sign petition to strip Paula Vennells of her CV

Paula Vennells was the chief executive of the Post Office for much of the scandal, yet in 2019 was awarded a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) for her services to the Post Office and charity. Now more than a million people have signed a petition calling for it to be stripped by the forfeiture committee.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has also commented on the situation, saying that he would "strongly support" the committee if it were to look at revoking her CBE. His official spokesman said: "The PM shares the public’s strength of feeling of outrage on this issue, he would strongly support the forfeiture committee if it chose to review the case. You’ll know it’s a decision for the committee rather than the government."

Who owns the Post Office?

The Post Office is a separate company from the Royal Mail owned by the government. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, which is responsible for the Post Office, explains on its website: “Royal Mail and the Post Office are separate companies with independent boards. Royal Mail is the company that delivers parcels and letters – the provider of the universal postal service. The Post Office is the nationwide network of branches offering a range of postal, government and financial services. The Post Office is not for sale.”

Ralph Blackburn is NationalWorld’s politics editor based in Westminster, where he gets special access to Parliament, MPs and government briefings. If you liked this article you can follow Ralph on X (Twitter) here and sign up to his free weekly newsletter Politics Uncovered, which brings you the latest analysis and gossip from Westminster every Sunday morning.