DWP launches independent review into Post Office staff prosecutions

The Department for Work and Pensions is launching an independent review into its handling of prosecutions against Post Office staff.

There were around 100 prosecutions by the DWP between 2001 and 2006, during the Horizon IT scandal.

The decision to review the work on the cases comes after it was revealed the Post Office investigation team shared information with the DWP.

The investigation will look at the period of time covered by the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024, from 1996 to 2018.

This was the legislation that effectively gave a blanket exoneration to Post Office staff convicted in that time, but it did not include DWP-related convictions.

It was uncovered that the DWP and Post Office had conducted joint investigations during the scandal by Sky News last May.

Responding to the findings at the time, lawyer and then-chair of the Justice Select Committee, Sir Robert Neill KC said the DWP convictions need to be “looked at”.

“I think that’s the area they need to look at if we are saying their approach was tainted from the beginning – in the way the investigators adopted things – then joint operations I suspect would be just as tainted arguably as something where it has been the Post Office on its own.”

A DWP spokesperson said: “We have committed to commissioning an independent assurance review where Post Office members of staff were prosecuted by the Department for welfare-related fraud.

“These cases involved complex investigations and were backed by evidence including filmed surveillance, stolen benefit books and witness statements – to date, no documentation has been identified showing that Horizon data was essential to these prosecutions.”

Lawyer Neil Hudgell, who represented several victims of the Post Office scandal, said the review was “wholly inadequate”, adding that the DWP “should not be marking its own homework.”

“Any involvement in the process of appointing reviewers undermines all confidence in the independence of the process,” he said.

The Horizon IT scandal saw approximately 1,000 individuals wrongfully prosecuted and convicted.

Around £1 billion has been paid to victims so far according to the Department for Business and Trade, after a legal act which came into effect on 25 January 2024 authorised automatic compensation.

The inquiry into the scandal is still ongoing, having published the first volume of its final report in July.