More than a hundred people have applied for the position of independent reviewer of the Department of Work and Pensions’ (DWP’s) prosecutions of subpostmasters as the much-needed review moves at a snail’s pace.
According to a freedom of information response, 113 people applied for the position, which will look at around 100 prosecutions of subpostmasters by the DWP between 1996 and 2018.
In the aftermath of the Post Office Horizon scandal hitting the headlines and the overturning of subpostmaster convictions based on data from the Post Office’s Horizon system, the DWP, under pressure, announced a review of its own prosecutions of subpostmasters, described as the “independent assurance review”.
It was 18 months ago, on 27 February 2025, when the review was first mentioned by the government. Speaking on behalf of the government in the House of Lords at the time, peer Maggie Jones, in response to a question from fellow peer Prem Sikka, said: “My noble friend Lord Sikka raised a question about the DWP convictions. I can assure him that the minister for transformation is looking into this, a review is being established, and I hope to provide more information about that.”
But as revealed by Computer Weekly last month, the government is yet to even appoint the person to conduct the independent review. It only advertised for the position in March this year, more than 12 months after the review was first announced.
The DWP confirmed: “The panel which oversaw the recruitment process was chaired by Aarti Thakor, a barrister and accredited mediator with 20 years of extensive charity, regulatory and international experience.”
Focus turned on the DWP after the Post Office Horizon controversy hit the mainstream following the ITV drama about the scandal, which saw hundreds of subpostmasters wrongly prosecuted following account shortfalls.
These discrepancies were caused by errors in the Post Office’s Horizon system used in branches and effected thousands of subpostmasters. More than 700 subpostmaster convictions, which were based on data from Horizon, were overturned en masse through an act of Parliament in May 2024.
The DWP worked with the Post Office on its subpostmaster prosecutions, and it has emerged that prosecutions of people using various systems at Post Office branches could also be flawed.
Around 100 subpostmasters and staff were prosecuted by the DWP with support from the Post Office. The DWP said it has recovered material and reviewed cases, but has so far has not found evidence that Horizon data was used by it to prosecute subpostmasters or branch staff.
But in January, Neil Hudgell, lawyer at Hudgell Solicitors, told Computer Weekly that his law firm is pursuing its own investigations on behalf of clients and already had “a couple of cases lined up” to send to the CCRC.
“We’ve unearthed some interesting things that we think impact the safety of convictions, so we’re not waiting around on DWP themselves,” said Hudgell. “Someone needs to lean on the DWP, because it’s not good enough. [The longer it takes,] the more suspicion subpostmasters have that there’s something to hide.”
There are allegations that the review will not go far enough. Last month, peer James Arbuthnot told Computer Weekly: “[The government] doesn’t see the need for this investigation, much like the Post Office didn’t see the need to look into Horizon. It is also trying to limit its scope and effectiveness as much as it can, much like the government tried to limit the scope and effectiveness of the public inquiry Boris Johnson promised, which civil servants tried to reduce to a ‘review’.”
He said the DWP’s advertisement for a reviewer – whose work is to be limited to 30 days and who won’t look at individual cases – “makes the job pointless” and that “it’s time for Parliament to step in”, adding: “I have discussed this with Lord [Prem] Sikka and I expect we shall be working together on it.”
"It’s good that they have applicants, but if the work to be done is the wrong work, it doesn’t do what is necessary. It remains an inadequate process," added Arbuthnot.
