DWP delays independent review of subpostmaster prosecutions

The Department for Work and Pensions has not appointed an independent reviewer or finalised terms of reference for its review of around 100 prosecutions of Post Office staff and subpostmasters, a freedom of information request shows. The review was announced on 27 February 2025 and covers prosecutions brought between 1996 and 2018.

The FOI response, released to a campaigner and former subpostmaster, says the appointment process is still under way and the terms of reference remain subject to stakeholder engagement and ministerial clearance. It adds there is no confirmed publication date and that details will be published once the process is complete.

A DWP spokesperson described the appointment process as ongoing and said: “A Direct Ministerial Appointment can’t be made until the new Prime Minister has had the opportunity to consider. Details of this appointment as well as a timeline of the review will be set out in due course.” The department also said it has recovered material, reviewed relevant cases and so far has not identified documentation showing Horizon data was essential to any DWP prosecutions. The DWP confirmed the review will not revisit criminal convictions.

Peers and legal representatives criticised the delay and the proposed scope of the review. Lord Prem Sikka called the 17-month wait “disgraceful” and warned that the delay prolongs harm to former postmasters and their families. Lord James Arbuthnot accused the department of “dragging its feet” and questioned an advertised reviewer role that would be limited to 30 days and would not examine individual cases.

Neil Hudgell, a solicitor representing hundreds of victims, described the delay as “beggars belief” and said his firm is pursuing its own investigations and preparing referrals to the Criminal Cases Review Commission. He stated his team has found material they believe could affect the safety of convictions.

The scrutiny of DWP prosecutions follows the Post Office Horizon scandal, in which faults in the Horizon accounting system contributed to unexplained shortfalls and wrongful prosecutions. More than 700 convictions that relied on Horizon data were overturned by an act of Parliament in May 2024. Attention has since broadened to prosecutions involving other branch systems and to cases now described by the Criminal Cases Review Commission as “pre-Horizon appeals.”

Legal teams representing affected subpostmasters have already advanced separate inquiries and intend to press the CCRC where they consider convictions unsafe. The DWP has not given a date for appointing the independent reviewer or publishing the review terms and says it will announce the reviewer’s name in a ministerial statement once the appointment is finalised.