e. The Horizon Conviction Redress Scheme - HCRS
4.236. This Scheme was launched on 30 July 2024. Those whose convictions have been quashed by the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and by the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences (Scotland) Act 2024 in Scotland, are eligible to claim financial redress.
4.237. The steps which must be taken in order to claim financial redress are to be found in the Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme (HCRS): applying for financial redress.[220] In summary, claimants are entitled to register for redress if (a) they have received notification from the relevant justice authority within the UK that their convictions have been quashed by reason of the legislation identified immediately above or (b) and, just as importantly, they believe that the legislation applies to them. Following registration, Departmental officials liaise with the relevant justice authority to confirm that the convictions of the claimants have been quashed and, assuming that to be the case, the claimants are asked for proof of identity.
4.238. Once identity is proved, a claimant becomes entitled to claim a preliminary payment of £200,000. Payment of that sum is made once a preliminary payment claim form is completed and submitted to the Department.
4.239. Under HCRS, Claimants may choose between a Fixed Sum Offer of £600,000 or applying for a full assessment of their claims. As at the dates when Mr Creswell made his first two witness statements, no claimant had opted to have a claim assessed.[221] That was still the case on 6 November 2024 when Mr Creswell gave oral evidence to the Inquiry.
4.240. If assessments of claims are sought in the future, they will be determined by reference to a comprehensive assessment framework which was first published by the Department on 30 July 2024.[222] As with all other schemes, those who opt to have their claims assessed lose their entitlement to opt for the Fixed Sum Offer.
4.241. From the launch of HCRS, the Department made it clear that legal fees incurred by claimants would be recoverable; they are recoverable in accordance with a published framework.[223] It is worthy of some note that Band 1 relates to the scenario in which a claimant opts to accept the Fixed Sum Offer. Legal fees of up to £30,000 may be awarded with an additional £4,000 available if advice is necessary in relation to the effects of bankruptcy or an IVA. Nine law firms have indicated their willingness to act for claimants in accordance with the published framework and it is open to others to express their willingness to act. In the event that a claimant registers for the scheme without legal representation, the Department encourages that person to engage a lawyer.
4.242. The Department has instructed Addleshaw Goddard LLP as its lawyers and Dentons as the scheme facilitators. This followed an open recruitment process, notwithstanding that these law firms were already engaged in GLOS.
4.243. If a claimant accepts the Fixed Sum Offer, a Settlement Deed is concluded and payment made to the Claimant. The process is intended to deliver redress very promptly and, so far as I am aware, it does so.
4.244. As at the date of Mr Creswell’s witness statements, and 6 November 2024, (when he gave oral evidence) a handful of claimants had submitted claims to accept the Fixed Sum Offer.[224]
4.245. As of 29 November 2024, the number of claims had risen to 98. All the claimants had opted to accept the Fixed Sum Offer and 82 had been paid.[225] By February 2025, there were 417 claims for interim payments of £200,000 all of which had been paid. 299 of those claims were “full and final claims”.[226] Offers had been made in each of those claims and the offer had been accepted in each case. That must mean, I infer, that 299 claimants had accepted the Fixed Sum Offer.
4.246. As of 31 March 2025, 432 claimants had made claims for preliminary payments and all except one had been paid. 339 claimants had opted for and received the Fix Sum Offer of £600,000.[227] By 30 April 2025 the number of claimants who had received preliminary payments had risen to 447 while the number opting for the Fixed Sum Offer had risen to 360. All except seven claimants who had opted for the Fixed Sum Offer had been paid.[228]
4.247. There is as yet no indication that any postmaster whose convictions have been quashed under the 2024 Acts has opted for assessed claims.[229] Nonetheless, in his first witness statement Mr Creswell described the process intended to apply if claimants opt for an assessed award.[230]
4.248. Mr Creswell’s evidence about how disputes about assessment would be resolved was, inevitably, skeletal. No more than a few months had gone by since the launch of the scheme when he gave his evidence. On 18 December 2024 an announcement was made to the effect that Sir Gary Hickinbottom would chair the panel which it was then envisaged would come into existence in HCRS. However, so far as I am aware, there had been no published material relating to appointments to such a panel by the time that a further announcement was made on 3 March 2025 to the effect that remaining claimants in OCS would be transferred to HCRS as from 3 June 2025, and that from that date there would be one scheme for all persons whose convictions had been quashed.[231]
4.249. Given the merger between HCRS and OCS, I presume that the process for resolving disputes in assessed cases in the merged scheme will follow the process currently existing in OCS. Claims for non-pecuniary losses will be resolved between the claimants and the Department by reference to Lord Dyson’s neutral evaluation. Claims in respect of pecuniary losses will be resolved by negotiation. If they cannot be agreed between a claimant and the Department (facilitated by Dentons, if necessary) the panel chaired by Sir Gary, can be asked to issue a non-binding determination.
4.250. By 30 April 2025 the Department had paid out to claimants the total sum £229m in respect of Fixed Sum Offers and preliminary awards.[232] It had paid £152,315 to its lawyers Addleshaw Goddard.[233]