The teams at the Post Office are diving into technology that could help pay compensation faster for victims of the Horizon scandal. Subpostmasters have been waiting years for their claims to be settled. The pressure is building on the government and the Post Office to speed things up.
They’re looking at straight-through processing technology, similar to what banks use. This could automate payments for smaller sums, up to £75,000, which make up most of the claims. For the more complex claims that need assessment, they’re exploring other tech solutions. This would allow them to focus on those tougher cases.
During a recent hearing with the Parliamentary Business and Trade Select Committee, Nigel Railton, the interim chairman at the Post Office, mentioned that automating most payments could speed things along. He acknowledged that changes are necessary but emphasized that he doesn’t want to slow the process down. He proposed that the Post Office handle the smaller, straightforward claims while the Department for Business and Trade takes on the more complex ones.
“In an ideal world, it would all be with DBT,” he said. “But let’s be realistic about splitting the work. High volume, low complexity with us; low volume, high complexity with DBT.”
Railton noted that automation could simplify the fixed payments of £75,000 for those in the Horizon Shortfalls Scheme who don’t need further assessment. “It’s pretty straightforward. Once we find one shortfall, we can just generate a cheque,” he explained. “That’s a process ripe for automation—there’s not much judgement involved.”
The Post Office is actively exploring this technology. A company spokesperson shared, “For those £75,000 fixed payments, we can get money to postmasters within 10 days of a valid acceptance.” They’re working on using tech to manage the expected increase in claims.
Additionally, they’re looking into how to apply technology to speed up the full assessment claims. “We’re collaborating with the government on how to accelerate redress for postmasters who prefer a complete assessment,” the spokesperson added.
The roots of this scandal reached back to 2009 when Computer Weekly first reported on the issues faced by subpostmasters due to the flawed Horizon accounting software, which led to a massive miscarriage of justice in British history.