DWP Launches Independent Review of Post Office Staff Prosecutions

Published: 22 August 2025. The English Chronicle Desk

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has announced the launch of an independent review into its handling of prosecutions against Post Office staff, revisiting a controversial chapter in British legal history linked to the Horizon IT scandal. The review will focus on cases spanning the period between 1996 and 2018, particularly those prosecutions carried out by the DWP in relation to welfare fraud, which until now have largely escaped scrutiny compared to the wider exonerations under the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024.

Between 2001 and 2006, the DWP prosecuted around 100 individuals connected to Post Office operations. The review comes after revelations that the Post Office investigation team had shared information with the DWP during the course of these prosecutions, raising concerns over the independence and fairness of the investigations.

The Horizon System, introduced to modernise Post Office accounting, became the centre of one of the UK’s most high-profile miscarriages of justice. Around 1,000 staff members were wrongfully convicted over apparent discrepancies in the system, later found to be errors in the Horizon IT software itself. While the 2024 legislation provided a sweeping exoneration for those convicted under the Post Office’s Horizon-related offences, it notably did not address convictions pursued by the DWP, leaving questions over accountability unresolved.

A DWP spokesperson emphasised that the upcoming review will serve as “an independent assurance review where Post Office members of staff were prosecuted by the Department for welfare-related fraud.” They added that the prosecutions involved “complex investigations” supported by evidence including filmed surveillance, witness statements, and recovered benefit books, and stated that “to date, no documentation has been identified showing that Horizon data was essential to these prosecutions.”

However, the decision has been met with scepticism from legal experts and victims’ advocates. Neil Hudgell, a lawyer who represented multiple victims of the scandal, described the review as “wholly inadequate,” criticising the DWP’s role in appointing reviewers and arguing that it risks undermining confidence in the independence of the process. “Any involvement in the process of appointing reviewers undermines all confidence in the independence of the process,” Hudgell said.

Sir Robert Neill KC, former chair of the Justice Select Committee, had previously called for scrutiny of the DWP convictions after joint operations between the department and the Post Office were revealed by Sky News in May 2024. “If we are saying their approach was tainted from the beginning, then joint operations would arguably be just as tainted as those conducted solely by the Post Office,” he said.

The Horizon scandal has already resulted in compensation payments exceeding £1 billion to victims, following legislation that came into effect on 25 January 2024, which authorised automatic redress. Despite this, the broader inquiry into the scandal remains active, with its first volume of the final report published in July, detailing the systemic failures that led to wrongful convictions and widespread injustice.

The DWP review signals an attempt to address outstanding questions over its role in the prosecutions, but debates over the adequacy and independence of the process are likely to continue as legal experts, campaigners, and victims await further developments.