DWP lastly seeks reviewer of its subpostmaster prosecutions

The Division for Work and Pensions (DWP) has lastly marketed for an unbiased reviewer to have a look at the DWP’s prosecutions of subpostmasters, seven months after asserting the evaluate.

In its announcement, the DWP said that it desires the reviewer to look at its “actions regarding Put up Workplace workers prosecutions” throughout the interval that the controversial Horizon system was used.

The DWP labored with the Put up Workplace to prosecute subpostmasters accused of economic crime associated to advantages, and there’s a perception amongst friends and campaigners that these prosecutions may very well be unsafe and are in want of evaluate.

The DWP stated in August final 12 months that it could evaluate its prosecutions of subpostmasters in gentle of the Put up Workplace scandal and the overturning of lots of of wrongful convictions.

In its announcement immediately, seven months later, it stated the evaluate will look over prosecutions within the interval from 23 September 1996 as much as when the Crown Prosecution Service took over DWP prosecutions in March 2012.

Round 100 subpostmasters and workers have been prosecuted by the DWP with assist from the Put up Workplace. The DWP stated it has recovered materials and reviewed instances, however has to date not discovered proof that it used Horizon information to prosecute subpostmasters or department workers.

The DWP stated Horizon didn’t play a necessary function in any of its prosecutions, however that it desires “an extra layer of assurance”, including: “The unbiased reviewer will assess whether or not the division’s strategy has been thorough and sturdy. Following dialogue with the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board, people and organisations may even have the chance to submit info on to the reviewer.

“Since 2022, DWP has searched its archives, reviewed hundreds of information and written to courts to get well related materials. That work additionally discovered no proof that Horizon information performed a necessary function in any of its prosecutions.”

Lots of of Horizon system-related convictions of subpostmasters have been overturned for the reason that first group of six in December 2020. The evaluate is not going to overturn convictions, however it may well refer the issues to the Legal Circumstances Assessment Fee (CCRC) and/or the Court docket of Enchantment. The CCRC is reviewing and has already referred subpostmaster convictions based mostly on the Horizon system, the Seize system and the APT/APS system.

Purposes for the function of reviewer are open till 13 April 2026.

Chatting with Laptop Weekly in January, Neil Hudgell, lawyer at Hudgell Solicitors, which represents lots of of Put up Workplace scandal victims, stated the DWP is “dragging its toes” and his regulation agency is pursuing its personal investigations on behalf of purchasers, already having “a few instances lined up” to ship to the CCRC.

“We’ve unearthed some fascinating issues that we expect affect the protection of convictions, so we’re not ready round on DWP themselves,” stated Hudgell. “Somebody must lean on the DWP, as a result of it’s not ok. [The longer it takes,] the extra suspicion subpostmasters have that there’s one thing to cover.”

The Put up Workplace Horizon scandal was first uncovered by Laptop Weekly in 2009, revealing the tales of seven subpostmasters and the issues they suffered attributable to accounting software program (see beneath timeline of all Laptop Weekly articles concerning the Horizon scandal, since 2009).