Those who were wrongly convicted in the Post Office scandal are set to have their names cleared under new legislation planned by the government.
The law is set to come into effect by the end of July 2024 and will apply to convictions in England and Wales.
It will apply to convictions meeting specific criteria and is expected to clear the majority of victims.
The government said the possible exoneration of some genuinely guilty of crimes was “a price worth paying”.
Between 1999 and 2015, over 900 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted due to faulty software.
Developed by Fujitsu, the computer system Horizon provided incorrect information, making it appear as though there were shortfalls.
Post Office workers were subsequently prosecuted.
Many of those wrongly convicted went to prison for false accounting and theft. Others were declared bankrupt.
Some sub-postmasters have died or taken their own lives in the intervening years.
So far, 102 convictions have been overturned.
The issue was brought back into the spotlight by the ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office.
There was mounting criticism that the process for overturning convictions and getting compensation was too slow.
Announcing the new legislation, Post Office Minister Kevin Hollinrake said it was likely to “exonerate a number of people who were, in fact, guilty of a crime”.
However, he added:
“The government accepts that this is a price worth paying in order to ensure that many innocent people are exonerated.”
As well as 700 people prosecuted by the Post Office, another 283 cases were brought by other agencies including the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Prosecutions by the DWP will not be quashed under the new law.
Mr Hollinrake said the new legislation would overturn all convictions that met certain criteria.
This includes:
- Convictions from the Post Office and CPS, but will not include any convictions from the DWP.
- The law will only cover “relevant offences”, such as theft and false accounting.
- Legislation will only affect sub-postmasters and their employees or family members.
- It will only cover cases where the offence took place during the time that the Horizon system (and its pilots) was in operation.
The convicted person will need to have been working in a Post Office that was using the Horizon system software (including relevant pilot schemes).
The new law will only cover cases in England and Wales.
But the government said it would work with the Scottish Government and Northern Ireland Executive to ensure their schemes to overturn convictions are “compatible with the UK compensation scheme”.
Labour MP Kevan Jones welcomed news of the legislation but added it was vital that the government set aside enough time for the new law to be passed “as quickly as possible”.
He said: “There are some initial key questions that need answering, including whether the Post Office’s Capture system counts as a ‘pilot’ of the Horizon system for the purposes of this bill.”
Mr Hollinrake recognised the “constitutional sensitivity” of the planned legislation but added it did not set a precedent for the future relationship between the government, Parliament and the judiciary.
He said: “The scale and circumstances of this prosecutorial misconduct demands an exceptional response.
“We are keen to ensure that the legislation achieves its goal of bringing prompt justice to all of those who were wrongfully convicted as a result of the scandal, followed by rapid financial redress.”
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