Transparency data

Post Office Horizon financial redress data as of 3 January 2025

Published 9 January 2025

As of 3 January 2025, approximately £594 million has been paid to over 3,800 claimants across 4 schemes:

• Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS): £277 million total value of all payments including interim payments
• Group Litigation Order (GLO) Scheme: £122 million total value of all payments including interim payments
• Overturned Convictions (OC): £65 million total value of all payments including further interim payments
• Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme (HCRS): £129 million total value of all payments including interim payments

Spend is rounded to the nearest £1 million.

1. Financial redress paid

The chart in this section shows the cumulative total of redress paid by month and broken down by scheme. As of 3 January 2025, £594 million has been paid in financial redress. This is up from £499 million last month.

Diagram 1: a stacked bar chart showing the cumulative total of financial redress paid each month. The bars are broken down into the 4 redress schemes: HSS, GLO, OC and HCRS.

View the web accessible version of diagram 1.

2. Claim data by scheme

Scheme	Claims received	Offers made	Offers accepted	Claims paid
Overturned Convictions (OC): initial interim payments	107 [-]	107 [-]	107 [-]	107 [-]
Overturned Convictions (OC): full and final	82 [+5]	73 [+5]	66 [+3]	66 [+4]
Group Litigation Order Scheme (GLO): full and final	370 [+36]	346 [+31]	243 [+8]	241 [+10]
Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS): eligible claims before deadline	2417 [-]	2417 [-]	2092 [+4]	2084 [+1]
Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS): eligible late claims	4395 [+2010]	1173 [+408]	867 [+410]	827 [+399]
Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme (HCRS): initial interim payments	321 [+70]	321 [+70]	321 [+70]	317 [+85]
Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme (HCRS): full and final	176 [+78]	176 [+78]	176 [+78]	165 [+83]

Information correct as of 3 January 2025.

Changes from last month’s publication (29 November 2024 data) in square brackets.
[-] indicates no change since last month.

2.1 Notes for table

In the above table:

• data regarding the HSS and OC are sourced from Post Office Ltd, which retains full responsibility for the data published on its website
• the HCRS redress payments data reflects the current position at a point in time - it should be noted that these totals can change slightly as time goes on as payments are retrospectively confirmed as received by claimants

3. Overturned Convictions (OC)

Initial interim payments are available to eligible postmasters upon getting their conviction overturned on the grounds that it was reliant on Horizon evidence.

As of 31 October 2024, all 111 eligible claimants have either reached full and final settlement or received a minimum of £200,000 through interim payments.

A full and final claim is defined as:

• both non-pecuniary and pecuniary claims have been received and sufficiently particularised to substantiate redress payments of £450,000 or more
• or the claimant has requested the £600,000 fixed sum offer

Post Office Ltd have been progressing non-pecuniary settlements first to get money to postmasters as quickly as possible, which means a number of partial settlements have been reached in addition to the full and final settlements published here.

Any individual with a conviction overturned by the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024 or the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences (Scotland) Act 2024 will be eligible to seek financial redress via the Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme (HCRS).

3.1 Full and final claimant stages

As of 3 January 2025, there are 111 claimants eligible for financial redress through the OC scheme. From these 111, Post Office Ltd has received 82 full and final claims.

Diagram 2: a pie chart showing the breakdown of full and final claims received against those yet to be received for claimants eligible to receive financial redress under OC.

View the web accessible version of diagram 2.

Of these 82 claims, 66 have been paid and a further 7 have received offers. The remaining 9 are awaiting offers from Post Office Ltd.

Diagram 3: a stacked bar showing the current application stages of claims received under the OC scheme.

View the web accessible version of diagram 3.

4. Group Litigation Order (GLO) scheme

Sixty-three postmasters (out of the 555 who were members of the Group Litigation Order) had convictions and are therefore eligible to apply for redress once their conviction has been overturned. If their conviction has been overturned by the courts, they are eligible under the Overturned Convictions (OC) Scheme. If their conviction has been overturned by the legislation, they are eligible for the Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme (HCRS). 

The remaining 492 postmasters are eligible for the Group Litigation Order scheme, of whom 484 qualify for interim payments.

For full and final claims received, the number reported refers to all claims assessed as complete. Further claims may have been received recently but not yet assessed to determine whether they are complete. A claim initially assessed as complete may subsequently be found to require further information and therefore be removed from counts of complete claims received while awaiting this information.

As of 3 January, 370 complete claims had been submitted to the GLO scheme. Eighty-three claims had been submitted but were incomplete or had not yet been confirmed complete and 39 claims had not yet been submitted.

4.1 Full and final claimant stages

There are 492 claimants eligible for financial redress through the GLO scheme. As of 3 January 2025, 370 full and final claims have been received.

Diagram 4: a pie chart showing the breakdown of full and final claims received against those yet to be received for claimants eligible to receive financial redress under the GLO scheme.

View the web accessible version of diagram 4.

Of these 370 claims, 241 have been paid and a further 2 have accepted offers and are awaiting payment. Another 103 postmasters have received offers from DBT and the remaining 24 are awaiting offers.

Diagram 5: a stacked bar showing the current application stages of claims received under the GLO scheme.

View the web accessible version of diagram 5.

4.2 Scheme delivery target

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is committed to a target of making a first offer to 90% of claimants who have submitted a full claim within 40 working days. A full claim is defined as a claim which DBT considers, with advice from its legal advisors, does not need any further evidence in order to assess every element of the claim. Should the department consider further evidence is needed in order to make a full assessment, the 40 working day target will not start until such time that the required evidence is received from the claimant or any other source.

Over the lifetime of the scheme to 3 January 2025, 89% of claimants received their first offer within 40 working days of submitting a full claim.

The department has also announced a new target of providing a substantive response within 40 working days to 90% of claimants who submit a complete challenge from 1st December 2024. A challenge will be considered ‘complete’ if the department does not require any more information from the claimant or their advisors in order to provide a substantive response.

4.3 £75,000 fixed payment impact 

Due to changes made in January 2024, all eligible GLO claimants are now offered the option to settle their claims on a full and final basis for a total fixed sum of £75,000 inclusive of interest, instead of making a claim for their individual losses.

This means that the claim would not be assessed by the department against the process set out in the guidance and principles.

Any payments received from the department to date or from the GLO settlement will be deducted from the £75,000 before payment is made.

As of 3 January 2025, 243 offers have been accepted. One hundred and fifty-three of these have accepted offers of the £75,000 fixed payment. Of those who have accepted the £75,000 fixed payment, four-fifths are new claims and a fifth had previously accepted offers.

5. Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS)

Post Office Ltd received 2,417 eligible claims by March 2021.

The closure date for applications was 27 November 2020, but Post Office Ltd continued to accept applications for the original deadline group up to March 2021.

In October 2022, the government announced that additional funding would be provided so that eligible late claimants could receive financial redress, and the scheme reopened for applications.

Post Office Ltd has received 4,395 eligible late claims to date.

Interim payments on the HSS are available before and after claimants receive an offer of redress.

The £277 million paid out on the HSS includes £32.7 million in interim payments to original claimants and £7.6 million in interim payments to late applications.

On 13 March 2024, the government announced that all eligible HSS claimants would be entitled to a fixed sum award of £75,000 to settle their claim.

Post Office Ltd continues to make top-up payments to claimants who had previously accepted a full and final offer below the value of £75,000, to bring their total redress to £75,000.

Post Office Ltd have also started to make payments of the full £75,000 fixed sum award to HSS applicants who have not previously received redress but have now accepted this offer. The number and amount of offers and payments made for the full fixed sum are now included in the HSS figures below and in the HSS eligible late claims figures on the ‘Claim data by scheme’ table.

As of 3 January 2025, approximately £136 million has been paid in award top-ups and £75,000 awards.

5.1 Eligible claimant stages

As of 3 January 2025, 6,812 claims for financial redress have been received via the Horizon Shortfall Scheme. This includes applications received before the original deadline, and applications received since the scheme reopened in October 2022.

Of the total 6,812 claims received, 2,911 have been paid and a further 48 have accepted offers and are awaiting payment. Six hundred and thirty-one claimants are currently in receipt of offers that they have not yet accepted and the remaining 3,222 claimants are awaiting offers from Post Office Ltd.

Diagram 6: a stacked bar showing the current application stages of claims received under the HSS.

View the web accessible version of diagram 6.

6. Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme (HCRS)

The Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024 and the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences (Scotland) Act 2024 quashed Horizon-related convictions on a blanket basis in June 2024, according to a set of criteria in the Acts, covering each UK nation.

On 30 July 2024, the UK government announced the launch of the Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme (HCRS), delivered by the Department for Business and Trade, to provide financial redress to postmasters across the UK who had their convictions quashed by the Acts.

Applicants have begun registering for the HCRS and the department is working with the relevant justice authorities to confirm individual applicants’ eligibility for the scheme.

Eligible applicants have a choice of 2 routes to redress: they can either accept a fixed and final sum of £600,000, or they can choose to submit their application to a detailed assessment process.

All eligible applicants are entitled to an initial interim payment of £200,000.

The department is now publishing data on settlements, broken down by initial interim payments and full and final settlements.

6.1 Full and final claimant stages

As of 3 January 2025, 176 full and final claims for financial redress have been received via the HCRS. Of these 176 claims, 165 have received payments and the remaining 11 have accepted offers for redress and are awaiting payment from DBT.

Diagram 7: a stacked bar showing the current application stages of claims received under the HCRS.

View the web accessible version of diagram 7.

7. Post Office data

These data are part of DBT’s Post Office Horizon financial redress data collection.

DBT publishes independent reports, written by Dentons, on the GLO scheme.

The Ministry of Justice publishes Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024: Quashed convictions management information.

Post Office Ltd also publishes:

• updates on Overturned Convictions and financial redress
• updates on the Horizon Shortfall Scheme
• reports on Horizon financial redress

8. Web accessible tables

8.1 Financial redress paid

Month	HSS (£ million)	GLO (£ million)	OC (£ million)	HCRS* (£ million)	Total (£ million)
Jan-24	98	27	35	Not applicable	161
Feb-24	107	34	38	Not applicable	179
Mar-24	111	39	41	Not applicable	190
Apr-24	113	42	42	Not applicable	196
May-24	122	54	46	Not applicable	222
Jun-24	124	64	49	Not applicable	236
Jul-24	126	80	54	Not applicable	261
Aug-24	144	87	56	1	289
Sep-24	196	97	59	11	363
Oct-24	230	106	60	42	438
Nov-24	245	115	61	79	499
Dec-24	277	122	65	129	594

*The HCRS was announced in July 2024. The first payments to claimants were made in August 2024.

8.2 Overturned Convictions (OC): full and final claims

Application status	Number of applications	Percentage (%)
Full claims received	82	74
Full claims to be received	29	26
Total	111	100

Application stage	Number of applicants	Percentage (%)
Claims being assessed	9	11
Offers made and being considered	7	9
Offers accepted and awaiting payment	0	0
Claims paid	66	80
Total	82	100

8.3 Group Litigation Order (GLO) Scheme: full and final claims

Application status	Number of applications	Percentage (%)
Full claims received	370	75
Full claims to be received	122	25
Total	492	100

Application stage	Number of applicants	Percentage (%)
Claims being assessed	24	6
Offers made and being considered	103	28
Offers accepted and awaiting payment	2	1
Claims paid	241	65
Total	370	100

8.4 Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS)

Application stage	Number of applicants	Percentage (%)
Claims being assessed	3222	47
Offers made and being considered	631	9
Offers accepted and awaiting payment	48	1
Claims paid	2911	43
Total	6812	100

8.5 Horizon Conviction Redress Scheme (HCRS): full and final claims

Application stage	Number of applicants	Percentage (%)
Claims being assessed	0	0
Offers made and being considered	0	0
Offers accepted and awaiting payment	11	6
Claims paid	165	94
Total	176	100