Post Office Horizon Programme

In the 1990s, the Post Office installed Horizon accounting software. However, faults in the software led to apparent shortfalls in accounts. The Post Office demanded sub-postmasters cover the shortfalls, and in many cases wrongfully prosecuted them between 1999 and 2015 for false accounting or theft. This is considered one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British legal history and remains unresolved. To date, 736 prosecutions have been identified as linked to the Horizon software, with 83 now overturned.

BEIS has delivered commercially robust support to the Horizon policy area and provided GLO sub-postmasters with a resolution to the scandal.