Post Office Scandal

Between 700 and 1000 individuals were prosecuted and may have been wrongly found guilty of criminal offences caused by the failings of the Fujitsu system, used by SPMs and sub-post office (SPO) staff around the country. The computer system wrongly indicated discrepancies in funds and SPO accounts. SPMs were convicted of or pleaded guilty to theft and false accounting, as a result of the failure of the Post Office, who prosecuted most of them, to disclose serious problems with its computer system and fatal flaws in its evidence.

Others were sued in the civil courts, lost their cases, ordered to ‘pay back’ money they had ‘taken’ and the Post Office’s legal costs and made bankrupt. Many others were wrongly forced to pay back money they did not in fact owe. SPMs were suspended from their jobs and then dismissed. Some sadly took their own lives and others have died without seeing justice.

The tide, however has been turning as a result of the dogged commitment of SPMs and those supporting them.

The Post Office Inquiry’s terms of reference are comprehensively to review what went wrong with Horizon and the Post Office’s misconduct, and make recommendations for the future.

Mike Schwarz and the crime team represent a number of SPMs who are ‘core participants’ in the Inquiry, including a significant proportion of core participants whose experiences are being treated as ‘case studies’ by the Inquiry to examine and illustrate what went wrong.

Mike Schwarz and the crime team represent in the Inquiry some of the key appellants in the Hamilton Court of Appeal case, who had their convictions quashed.

We are thrilled to announce a significant triumph in the Post Office Horizon scandal. Kathleen Crane, expertly represented by Hodge Jones & Allen and barrister Flora Page from 23ES chambers, has successfully overturned her fraud conviction in a landmark decision at the Royal Courts of Justice on January 25, 2024.
Read more here.

The team continue to represent others who have had successful criminal appeals to the Crown Court and others who are seeking to challenge existing convictions, based on Horizon ‘evidence’.

1. Overturned convictions

If you have had a criminal conviction overturned where the reliability of the Horizon IT system was essential to the prosecution you can apply for compensation under the overturned convictions scheme. Eligible applicants are entitled to an interim payment of £163,000 pending assessment of a final compensation sum.

2. Group Litigation Claimants

If you were one of the 555 Group Litigation claimants who reached a settlement with the Post Office in December 2019 then you may be entitled to make an additional claim to the ex-gratia compensation scheme.

3. Horizon Shortfall Scheme (previously known as Historic Shortfall Scheme)

This scheme is for current and former Postmasters (who had a contract directly with the Post Office and were not involved with the above group litigation), who believe they experienced shortfalls relating to previous versions of the Horizon IT system.

4. The Suspension Remuneration Scheme

This scheme is for current and former Postmasters, who before March 2019, were not paid during the period of any contract suspension.

The Post Office changed their policy in March 2019 and Postmasters are now paid during a period of suspension. If you are a former or current Postmaster who were not paid during a period of suspension the Suspension Remuneration Review offers redress for those affected by the previous suspension remuneration policy