Revealed: The Extent of the Post Office Horizon IT Scandal

The Post Office Horizon IT scandal may have led to more than 13 suicides and drove at least 59 people to contemplate taking their own lives, according to the first findings from the public inquiry into what has been labelled the worst miscarriage of justice in UK history.

Between 1999 and 2015, around 1,000 sub-postmasters and postmistresses were prosecuted and convicted by the Post Office after its faulty Horizon accounting software suggested they had embezzled money from their branches.

A further 50 to 60 people were prosecuted but not convicted, while thousands more were wrongly held responsible for losses without ever being charged.

The report was written by Sir Wyn Williams, a retired judge that has chaired the Post Office inquiry since September 2020. This report is just the first volume of several which will look into the “disastrous human impact” of the scandal.

It reveals that about 10,000 people are now claiming compensation through four schemes, with that number expected to rise "at least by hundreds, if not more" over the coming months.

More than 3,000 claims remain unresolved, half of which are in their initial stages.

Human cost emerges from inquiry findings

While four suicides have been previously attributed to the scandal, Sir Wyn Williams says that at least 13 could be linked to it, with the total potentially higher as some deaths may remain unreported.

A further 19 people began abusing alcohol, with some saying they could not sleep at night without drinking first.

Of the 59 who had suicidal thoughts, 10 reportedly went on to attempt suicide, some on multiple occasions.

"I can't think of any other public inquiry in which so many people have died while waiting for justice," the retired judge says.

An institutional failure

The report states that the Post Office leadership team should have known that the Horizon IT system was faulty, but they “maintained the fiction that its data was always accurate”.

The system was provided by Japanese technology company Fujitsu, which has expressed its “deepest apologies” about the role its devices and software played in the scandal.

The publicising of the scandal, as well as the viral success of Mr Bates vs the Post Office, ITV’s dramatisation of the workers’ struggles. Fujitsu’s value was reported to have subsequently dropped by US$1bn.

"This is a wake-up call. Technology carries real-world consequences — and so do we. We must learn, change, and ensure this never happens again," said John Farrer, Group IT Business Partner at Ardagh Group.

The effect on the victims

For all the post officer operators that were affected, the toll of the scandal has been immeasurable.

"The mental stress was so great for me that I had a mental breakdown and turned to alcohol as I sank further into depression,” says one anonymous sub-postmaster.

Since the report’s publication on 8 July, several of the affected workers have been speaking to the media, continuing their fight for justice and fair compensation.

"17 April last year we met with Keir Starmer. He made promises that if he got into power he would make sure that this was dealt with. That was over a year ago,” Janet Skinner, former sub-postmistress, told BBC Breakfast.

Sending a message directly to the Prime Minister on the same talk show, another former sub-postmistress, Maria Lockwood, said: "Just stop being cruel to people. Stop playing with people's lives. Everyone on this sofa has suffered enough. There's thousands like us. Just end it, you can end it."

Compensation and government response

According to the UK government, more than US$1.26bn had been paid out to more than 7,300 post office operators by June this year.

Rachel Reeves, the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, set aside US$2.27bn in her October budget to cover all compensation claims.

Compensation payments have ranged from US$12,600 to more than US$1.26 million.

Sir Wyn Williams has called for urgent action to deliver "full and fair" compensation and asked the government to provide free legal advice to victims.

Preventative measures for the future: is blockchain the answer?

The fallout from the Horizon scandal has been huge, with victims and onlookers heavily scrutinising the fallibility of the technology involved.

Blockchain is one technology that has been touted as something that could prevent scandals like this in the future.

The crux of this scandal was Fujitsu’s faulty software presenting false information as the truth, but, unlike traditional databases, blockchain creates an immutable record where data can’t be copied, edited or twisted to create alternative versions of events.

Had the Horizon system been built on blockchain infrastructure, the wrongful accusations that destroyed thousands of lives may never have occurred.

A blockchain network between individual post office terminals and head office could have ensured that no changes were authorised without mutual agreement between both parties.

“Surely such technology should become a regulatory requirement,” argues Nish Kotecha, Executive Chair and Co-Founder of Finboot. 

“Only then can we be confident of technological protection from such David vs Goliath scandals as Post Office Horizon.”