The Department of Work & Pensions (DWP) has not yet appointed an independent reviewer of its prosecutions of subpostmasters or signed off terms of reference, almost 18 months after the review was announced.
Campaigning peers said it is time for Parliament “to step in” and that “something is very wrong at the heart of the government”, while a lawyer representing subpostmasters said the delay “beggars belief”.
In the aftermath of the Post Office Horizon scandal hitting the headlines and the overturning of subpostmaster convictions based on data from the Post Office’s Horizon system, the DWP announced a review of its own prosecutions of subpostmasters. The “independent assurance review”, as it was described by the DWP, will look at around 100 prosecutions between 1996 and 2018.
On 27 February 2025, the review was first announced. Speaking on behalf of the government in the House of Lords at the time, Peer Maggie Jones, in response to a question from fellow peer Prem Sikka, said: “My noble friend Lord Sikka raised a question about the DWP convictions. I can assure him that the minister for transformation is looking into this, a review is being established, and I hope to provide more information about that.”
But this week, 17 months later, in answer to a freedom of information (FOI) request by campaigner and former subpostmaster Tim McCormack, the DWP said it has not chosen the person to review the cases: “The process of [reviewer’s] appointment is still underway.”
It said, once agreed, the name of the independent reviewer will be announced in a ministerial statement. Furthermore, the DWP admitted that the terms of reference of the review “are not yet finalised”.
In the FOI response, it said: “[They] remain subject to stakeholder engagement and ministerial clearance. We do not yet have a confirmed publication date, but publication is expected once that process has been completed.”
The DWP was contacted by Computer Weekly for comment, but it did not respond.
In reaction to the DWP’s admission that the review has not yet started, Sikka told Computer Weekly: “It is disgraceful that after 17 months of promises nothing has been done. The promised review has not begun, and no reviewer has been appointed. The government lethargy is prolonging the pain and misery of postmasters and their families. Justice delayed is justice denied. Something is very wrong at the heart of the government.”
Fellow peer and long-time campaigner for justice for subpostmasters affected in the Post Office scandal, James Arbuthnot, told Computer Weekly: “It is clear that the DWP is dragging its feet.”
He added that the department’s approach mirrors that of earlier government efforts to avoid investigating allegations over the Post Office Horizon system: “It doesn’t see the need for this investigation, much like the Post Office didn’t see the need to look into Horizon. It is also trying to limit its scope and effectiveness as much as it can, much like the government tried to limit the scope and effectiveness of the public inquiry Boris Johnson promised, which civil servants tried to reduce to a ‘review’.”
He said the DWP’s advertisement for a reviewer – whose work is to be limited to 30 days and who won’t look at individual cases – “makes the job pointless” and that “it’s time for Parliament to step in”, cadding: “I have discussed this with Lord Sikka and I expect we shall be working together on it.”
Neil Hudgell, lawyer at Hudgell Solicitors, which represents hundreds of Post Office scandal victims, said: “It beggars belief that this review has not started. Not much has happened since this time last year, other than attempts by DWP to limit its reach and water down any meaningful investigation. Only a full review of all cases on their own merits will do and it needs to start now and move at speed.”
Around 100 subpostmasters and staff were prosecuted by the DWP with support from the Post Office. The DWP said it has recovered material and reviewed cases, but has so far has not found evidence that Horizon data was used by it to prosecute subpostmasters or branch staff.
In January, Hudgell told Computer Weekly that his law firm is pursuing its own investigations on behalf of clients, and already had “a couple of cases lined up” to send to the CCRC.
“We’ve unearthed some interesting things that we think impact the safety of convictions, so we’re not waiting around on DWP themselves,” said Hudgell. “Someone needs to lean on the DWP, because it’s not good enough. [The longer it takes,] the more suspicion subpostmasters have that there’s something to hide.”
Polluted prosecutions
Focus turned on the DWP after the Post Office Horizon controversy hit the mainstream following the ITV drama about the scandal, which saw hundreds of subpostmasters wrongly prosecuted following account shortfalls.
These discrepancies were caused by errors in the Post Office’s Horizon system used in branches and effected thousands of subpostmasters. More than 700 subpostmaster convictions, which were based on data from Horizon, were overturned en masse through an act of Parliament in May 2024.
The DWP worked with the Post Office on its subpostmaster prosecutions, and it has emerged that prosecutions of people using various systems at Post Office branches could also be flawed. The CCRC now refers to cases based on multiple technologies as “pre-Horizon appeals”, such is the variety of systems involved.
The DWP said prosecutions were related to fraudulent activity on the DWP payment mechanisms such as order book fraud, but Hudgell has stated that “all prosecutions involving the Post Office are polluted and need to be looked at”.
In an update, a DWP spokesperson told Computer Weekly: “We announced an independent assurance review where Post Office members of staff were prosecuted by the Department for welfare-related fraud. Over the past few years, we have taken comprehensive steps to recover material and review all relevant cases. To date, no documentation has been identified to show that Horizon data was essential to any DWP prosecutions.”
The DWP said it will not review criminal convictions.
