Quarterly Review Meeting — Overturned Convictions and Horizon Shortfall Scheme
Attendees:
6 June 2024
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Department for Business and
Trade
Post Office Ltd
Carl Creswell (CC)
Charlotte Heyes (CH)
Ciara Lawrence (CL)
Ellen Wasden (EW)
Grace Cockerill (GC)
Mick Carling (MC)
Richard Howard (RH)
Ross Fielding (RF)
Stephanie Cossom (SC)
Eleri Wones (EW)
Liam Butler (LB)
Harry Fallowfield (HF)
Beth White (BW)
Stephanie Cossom (SC)
Andrew Mortimer
(AM)
Catherine Connolly
(CCo)
Caroline Whitehall
(CW)
David Firth (DF)
Evelyn Hocking
(EH)
George Day (GD)
Jamie Tebbutt (JT)
Jacki Adams (JA)
Ken Kyriacou (KK)
Madeleine De Matteis (MM)
Matthew Nelson Hilton (MNH)
Mark Durrans (MD)
Neil McDaid (NMc)
Nigel Machin (NM)
Nicola Munden (NMu)
Pam Heap (PR)
Paul Murray (PM)
Richard Paddington (RP)
Sarah Lambert (SL)
Simon Recaldin (SR)
Susan Sannachan (SS)
Overturned Convictions
Item 1 — OC1 update
SR gave an update on progress, noting that having exceptional case criteria in place will be
helpful. Work is ongoing regarding POL’s pension scheme and its impact on claims.
CC asked POL for their reflections on the 40 working-day target for making a final offer.
NMc noted that POL are trying hard to deliver and are tracking all live cases against this
target, though RFls have impacts on timelines. NMc noted the limited flow of claims is
making it difficult to decide on appropriate staffing levels for the CAT.
CL noted that DBT are making efforts to reduce timelines for approvals, including by
seeking approval via correspondence. CL suggested splitting out exceptional heads of loss
for HROC approval and treating the rest of the claim as non-exceptional. This will be
discussed further offline.
On family members policy, CC noted there is no change to the policy but there are plans to
go back to Ministers on this matter following the general election.
The group discussed ways to speed up submission of claims, and CC said he would raise
in his next meeting with Hudgell.
SR asked whether there were any updates on possibility of cases switching from OC1 to
HCRS. CH said this will need to be raised with new Ministers — Minister Hollinrake had
previously alluded to this possibility but there is no policy agreed. CH noted clarity would be
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needed ahead of the launch of the HCRS. CH explained that DBT have been clear that
claimants will have consistent outcomes across the two schemes.
There was some discussion around a case currently working through the Appeal Courts in
Scotland, which has garnered some media attention due to disclosure issues, but it may
still be overturned by legislation in Scotland
Item 2 —- HCRS update
On the disclosure contract, it was noted that DBT will pay external legal fees, but it is
expected that these fees will be less than for the GLO. The POL Board approved
maintaining the GLO contract position on indemnity for the HCRS contract.
POL is working through REM packs for c.500 postmasters, with a delivery target of 12 July.
DBT is continuing work on shortfall analysis following a Ministerial steer prior to the pre-
election period.
CH explained that work is ongoing for a legal tariff for the HCRS and that legal advisors
were due to be appointed on 14 June.
KK asked for any updates on the statement of truth. CC noted that a final decision will need
to go through Ministers, but CH confirmed that the fraud statement will be light touch and
criminal disclosure is not anticipated to be needed.
Item 3 - Horizon Shortfall Scheme
CCo provided an overview of progress over the previous quarter.
CC queried how POL was coping with the workload across the HSS. CCo highlighted that
POL was now completing more eligibility checks than it was receiving applications. CCo
explained that one challenge that POL had however was that it had identified c.500 claims
that it believed would be open to accepting the £75,000 offer. CCo explained that POL was
hopeful funding can be agreed and offer letters finalised so POL would be in a position to
resolve those claims swiftly.
PM provided an update on tax top-ups, highlighting that he was working with the Dispute
Team to ensure that 100% interim payments could be made in all DRP cases, opening the
possibility of issuing tax-tops up to those claimants. SL agreed, highlighting that cases
going to mediation would not receive a top-up payment, but it could be explored in other
cases.
SR highlighted a success in regard to a mediation case. SR explained that the claimant
was represented by Hudgell Solicitors, who engaged well with the mediation and expressed
that they were happy with how the mediation was conducted.
CC thanked the POL team for the updates, noting that Hudgell Solicitors’ engagement with
the mediation was positive.
SC highlighted that DBT was conducting a review into fraud risk measures across
compensation schemes (including the HSS) and would be looking to engage with POL on
this in due course. SC explained that a particular area of interest in this review was the
£75,000 fixed sum payment and how fraud risk would be managed on that specifically, but
also more broadly how fraud is considered through POL governance on all compensation
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schemes. CC acknowledged there was a balance to be struck between ensuring swift
progress and ensuring robust fraud risk measures were in place.
SR queried whether DBT had any further considerations in regard to POL’s request to
increase POL’s delegated authority to resolve cases earlier in the dispute process. HF
explained that SteerCo had previously discussed this proposal, and their view was that
dispute processes between the GLO and HSS should be aligned as far as possible. HF
explained that he had since engaged with the GLO team, and he would now take the
proposal to SteerCo again. HF highlighted that the SteerCo were broadly sympathetic to
the proposal, noting that we should be streamlining where appropriate. However, HF
confirmed that HMT’s view would be needed.
HF explained that the funding letter for the fixed sum payments would be issued by the
DBT CFO early w/c 10 June.
SR highlighted POL’s preference to announce the HSS closure date prior to the election as
it would save POL having to write to the same cohort twice, but POL understood that may
not be possible during purdah.
HF provided an update on DBT’s work on a potential HSS appeals process, explaining that
the proposal was with HMT, but would not be able to be put forward for approval until after
the election. Once new ministers are in place, HF explained that DBT would need to submit
advice to them on scope and were working this up in advance of the election. HF explained
that DBT were continuing to engage with HMT about the structure of the process.
CW highlighted that her team had been working on proposed solutions in terms of an
appeals process and that she would look to present this to DBT via SR in the following
days.
CW highlighted some concern about the current proposal to not offer legal support to those
who have accepted the £75,000 fixed sum offer, and whether POL may need to be clearer
in comms around what it means to accept the £75,000 offer. CC highlighted that he also
recognised the risk, and that CW should engage with HF on the comms point to develop
further guidance around this point.
AOB - CC thanked Jacki for her team’s work on GLO disclosures, which had now been
completed.
BW highlighted that she was keen that the investigation was started as soon as possible,
and that DBT were awaiting POL’s clearance of the data sharing agreement (DSA). BW
asked for an update on governance approval of the DSA. SR confirmed that clearance
would be sought offline, and it would be sent over to governance by the end of the day.