1. Register 

Who can register

If you had a conviction that has been quashed by either:  

• Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 

• Post Office (Horizon System) Offences (Scotland) Act 

you are eligible for financial redress. This means we will pay you for your losses. 

You can still register if you think you’re eligible for the scheme but you’ve not got a letter.

If your conviction has been quashed 

Your court and police records are being amended by His Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) and the Police.  

The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) is ensuring that records of your quashed convictions are removed from the Police National Computer (PNC). Since the PNC is the single national collection of convictions, this means that:  

• there will no longer be a record of your quashed conviction available for day-to-day policing 

• the quashed conviction will not be disclosed on any future criminal record check, such as a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check

2. Complete your ID checks 

3. Apply for your preliminary payment

Once your identification documents have been verified, you and your solicitor will need to complete and send us the preliminary payment application form. This form also includes a fraud safeguard statement you’ll need to sign. 

You will then receive a preliminary payment of £200,000.

This allows you time to consider whether to accept the £600,000 optional fixed settlement or request a detailed assessment.

If you live in the UK, you do not need to pay tax on any payments you get from the HCRS. They will not impact any benefits you receive.

You may need to read guidance on how a bankruptcy, Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) or a Debt Relief Order (DRO) affects your redress payment.

4. Read the assessment framework and your disclosure bundle 

You and your solicitor should use the available documents to decide whether you’re going to take the optional fixed settlement of £600,000 or request a detailed assessment.

If you decide to accept the £600,000 optional fixed settlement, you will receive a final payment of £400,000. This amount when added to your £200,000 preliminary payment, will equal the £600,000 optional fixed settlement.

Assessment framework 

The assessment framework sets out some examples of losses, and how much you might be owed in financial redress under the scheme for suffering them. 

Disclosure bundle 

If you were a postmaster, employed directly by the Post Office, you will receive a disclosure bundle. 

Your disclosure bundle is a set of documents related to your work with the Post Office, and the events leading up to your conviction. 

At this stage, your disclosure bundle will include the information we have on: 

• your contract and remuneration with the Post Office 

• whether you were eligible for the Royal Mail Share Plan 

Your bundle will be uploaded to a secure portal, along with any other documents we share with you.  

We’ll send you and your solicitor details on how to sign in to the secure portal. 

If you were not employed by the Post Office, you will not receive a disclosure bundle. However, you can request more information from the Post Office by contacting us at horizonconvictionsredress@businessandtrade.gov.uk.

If you need your tax records 

You can request your tax records if you wish. We recommend this step, as it will help you decide whether to take the £600,000 optional fixed settlement or request a detailed assessment. This will also make the process quicker.

If you need more information 

If you need more information to make your decision, you can request it by contacting us at horizonconvictionsredress@businessandtrade.gov.uk.

We’ll let you know if this information is available and when it has been added to the portal.

5. Decide whether to take £600,000 or request a detailed assessment

Once we have confirmed your eligibility, we’ll send the 2 application forms to the contact details you have provided. You should complete and send us either the optional fixed settlement application form or the detailed assessment application form.

You should seek legal advice to help you, using our guidance on finding a solicitor. 

There is no time limit for you to decide which option to take.  

Option 1: take the £600,000 optional fixed settlement 

If you decide to accept the £600,000 optional fixed settlement, you will receive a final payment of £400,000. This amount when added to your £200,000 preliminary payment, will equal the £600,000 optional fixed settlement.  

If you accept the fixed sum settlement, you cannot get a detailed assessment at a later stage. 

If you live in the UK, you do not need to pay tax on any payments you get from the HCRS. They will not impact any benefits you receive.

Option 2: request a detailed assessment

If you request a detailed assessment: 

• your detailed assessment settlement might be less than £600,000 
• you won’t be able to take the optional fixed settlement of £600,000 at a later stage 

You will need to provide evidence of your losses so you can receive the exact amount you lost.  

This includes both financial damages (such as lost earnings) and personal damages (the impact on your life). 

Submitting your evidence

You will need to submit your completed detailed assessment application form and evidence to the portal.

After you have submitted your evidence

Once your detailed assessment application form and evidence has been submitted, you will receive a payment of £250,000 to bring your financial redress to £450,000. 

Your case worker will contact you if they have any queries. 

Receiving your detailed assessment offer

You will then receive a detailed assessment offer with an explanation on how the amount was calculated. 

You and your solicitor then need to consider whether to accept the offer or not. 

If you disagree with your offer, you can discuss your options with your case worker and solicitor.

If you cannot come to an agreement, read the guidance on appealing your offer. 

Accepting your detailed assessment offer

Once you have accepted your detailed assessment offer, you will sign a settlement agreement to formalise this.

You should note: 

• any payments you have already received will be deducted from the final settlement payment
• interest is generally payable on past financial damages. Interest will be paid at 3.45% compound from the date the loss was incurred, where relevant. Interest is not payable on non-financial damages

If you live in the UK, you do not need to pay tax on any payments you get from the HCRS. They will not impact any benefits you receive.

6. Appeal your offer (optional)

You can appeal your financial redress offer if both of the following apply: 

• you do not agree with your offer 

• you are unable to find an agreement with DBT 

There are 2 ways you can appeal: 

• stage 1 – external experts will mediate conversations between you and DBT until you find an agreement 

• stage 2 – a panel of experts will assess your case and recommend a solution, the panel is made up of experts in:

  • law 

  • medical 

  • accounts 

  • retail