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The government has moved from acknowledging the Post Office’s pre-Horizon Capture scandal to operating a dedicated compensation scheme. But the route to justice remains incomplete: claimants still face questions about eligibility, missing records, award levels and delays, while people with Capture-related convictions must use a separate criminal-case review process.
Capture was a separate Post Office scandal
Capture was a branch accounting system used in some Post Office branches between 1992 and 2000. It was intended to replace paper-based accounting before and during the later introduction of Horizon. The systems’ periods overlapped, so a person’s experience cannot be determined from dates alone.
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The central issue is not simply whether Capture contained technical faults. Former subpostmasters said unexplained accounting discrepancies were attributed to them, leading to demands to repay money, business losses, severe personal consequences and, in some cases, criminal proceedings.
An independent Kroll investigation concluded there was a reasonable likelihood that Capture caused financial shortfalls. That wording is important: it recognises a credible system-related risk without establishing that every historic shortfall was caused by Capture.
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Why the issue gained attention after Horizon
The wider Post Office scandal became widely known through cases involving Horizon. The January 2024 ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office prompted further former subpostmasters to come forward, including people who had used Capture.
Their accounts suggested a troublingly similar pattern: unexplained discrepancies, pressure to repay alleged losses and possible prosecutions. In December 2024, the government accepted the Kroll findings, promised financial redress for eligible Capture users and committed to reviewing potentially unsafe convictions.
What had happened by 1 May 2025?
By the time of the original May 2025 reporting, the government had recognised the need for Capture redress but had not yet opened a fully operational compensation route. The Department for Business and Trade was consulting former Capture users and campaigners on the scheme’s design.
A proposed £10,000 recognition or preliminary payment was seen as an important sign that the government accepted the seriousness of the harm. However, campaigners also raised concerns about the pace of progress. Many potential claimants are elderly or seriously ill, making delay more than an administrative inconvenience.
Campaigners were also concerned that Capture victims might receive less favourable treatment than people compensated through Horizon-related schemes. The government’s recognition of a similar pattern of harm did not, by itself, guarantee identical eligibility rules or compensation.
The Post Office had also issued an official apology to at least one Capture user. Potentially unsafe convictions were being considered through criminal-case review bodies, but this remained separate from the financial redress process.
What changed after May 2025?
The government announced the structure of the scheme on 19 June 2025. Applications opened on 29 October 2025, initially with the process being tested with the first 150 claimants before wider rollout. The official guidance says applications are being processed in phases, with no pause between the first and second phases.
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That means the story has moved beyond policy design. It is now possible to apply. But opening a scheme is not the same as delivering substantial compensation.
Who can apply?
The ordinary Capture Redress Scheme is intended for a claimant who:
- Was a postmaster between 1992 and 2000;
- Used Capture in their branch; and
- Suffered financial shortfalls as a result of using Capture.
Applications are assessed on the balance of probabilities. The Department for Business and Trade may consider the application, an impact statement, supporting documents, Post Office records and third-party evidence.
Using Capture alone is therefore not an automatic entitlement. The claimant must connect the system’s use with a financial shortfall.
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Who is excluded?
The ordinary scheme excludes people with a criminal conviction related to Capture. It also excludes assistant postmasters, contractors and other Post Office branch staff under the published rules.
Partnership claims have additional complications. Partners must agree who will receive the payment and how it will be divided. The contracted postmaster may claim for personal non-financial harm, such as distress or health effects, but other partners cannot claim those personal losses through the same route.
People dealing with the estate of a deceased claimant should obtain case-specific advice rather than assume that a family member or estate can automatically claim under the published rules.
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What does the £10,000 payment mean?
Eligible applicants can receive a fixed £10,000 preliminary payment. It is not a bonus and is not an additional award on top of final compensation. It is an advance deducted from the final award.
For example, if the final award were £50,000, the claimant would receive £10,000 initially and £40,000 later. Receiving the preliminary payment does not indicate what the eventual total will be.
How are final awards assessed?
The final award is based on the claimant’s individual circumstances and assessed by an independent panel. The published material does not establish that Capture awards use exactly the same valuation rules as Horizon settlements.
Relevant evidence may include:
- Capture-related financial shortfalls and repayments;
- Business losses, closure or lost income;
- Personal financial consequences;
- Distress and reputational harm;
- Health impacts and loss of livelihood; and
- Relevant legal or enforcement consequences.
It would be misleading to present a guaranteed tariff or promise that every eligible Capture claimant will receive compensation comparable with a Horizon settlement. The appropriate comparison will depend on the rules applied and the facts of each case.
The evidence problem
Many claims concern events more than two decades old. Applicants may no longer have accounting records, correspondence or proof of repayments. The scheme says DBT will work with the Post Office and third parties to locate supporting records, so missing documents should be explained rather than treated as an automatic bar.
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Potentially useful evidence includes:
- Post Office contracts and records showing Capture use;
- Branch accounting records and correspondence about shortfalls;
- Repayment demands, suspension or termination documents;
- Court, police or enforcement documents;
- Tax records and evidence of lost income;
- Medical evidence; and
- Statements from relatives, colleagues or customers.
HMRC tax records may help establish the applicant’s historic contractual relationship with the Post Office. Applicants can request records themselves or authorise a legal representative to do so.
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Legal help and costs
The government strongly encourages applicants to obtain legal representation. Under the Capture legal-costs framework, the government has agreed to meet reasonable legal costs for applicants whose representatives work within the framework.
Applicants should check this before instructing a solicitor. Fees above the framework may not be covered, and the government may not pay the fees of a non-framework representative if the applicant is found ineligible. The official guidance also refers applicants to an independent Information and Support Service, which can explain the process but does not provide legal advice.
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Convictions remain a separate justice crisis
A person with a Capture-related criminal conviction cannot use the ordinary redress scheme. They must seek a conviction review through the Criminal Cases Review Commission in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, or the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission in Scotland.
This is not merely a delay in processing compensation. Financial redress and exoneration are different outcomes. A conviction may need to be overturned before the person can access an appropriate compensation route.
The scale of the problem also remains uncertain. Authorities have not established a definitive list of all convictions potentially linked to Capture or other pre-Horizon systems. Subsequent parliamentary and media scrutiny in 2026 continued to question whether legislation was needed to address Capture convictions and whether the Post Office’s approach to appeals was fair.
Has the scheme delivered compensation?
The latest figures identified here are dated 19 December 2025. They show:
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|---|---|
| Complete applications received | 110 |
| Applications undergoing eligibility assessment | 90 |
| Applicants found eligible | 20 |
| Preliminary payments made | 4 |
| Offers issued | 1 |
| Offers accepted | 0 |
| Fully paid final claims | 0 |
These figures must be read carefully. Applications, eligible claims, preliminary payments, offers and completed payments are separate milestones. By the end of this dataset, the scheme had made administrative progress but had not yet fully paid a claim.
What remains unresolved?
- Speed: A slow process risks failing people who are elderly, ill or unable to wait years for redress.
- Fair valuation: Campaigners want assurance that Capture victims will not be treated as less deserving than Horizon victims.
- Convictions: Excluding convicted applicants from the ordinary scheme leaves the most serious cases on a separate and uncertain track.
- Evidence imbalance: Claimants may have lost records while the Post Office remains an important source of historic evidence.
- Unknown scale: The number of affected Capture users and potentially unsafe convictions is still not firmly established.
- Other systems: Capture should not automatically be treated as the final boundary of pre-Horizon accounting problems, including questions about other systems such as Ecco+.
Practical next steps for potential claimants
- Check the official eligibility and application guidance.
- Write a chronological account of the branch, Capture use, shortfalls, repayments and consequences.
- Collect contracts, Post Office correspondence, financial records, tax information and medical or witness evidence.
- Explain gaps in the evidence and identify records that may be held by the Post Office or another organisation.
- Ask a solicitor whether they work within the government’s legal-costs framework before signing an agreement.
- If there was a Capture-related conviction, contact the appropriate CCRC or SCCRC instead of treating the ordinary compensation application as a route to overturning it.
According to the scheme guidance, payments made under the scheme are not taxable in the UK and do not affect benefits. Claimants should nevertheless obtain advice about their own circumstances, particularly where they have complex tax, benefits, estate or partnership issues.
The Bottom Line
The government has recognised the Capture scandal and opened a dedicated redress scheme, but recognition is only the first stage. The key tests are whether applications are assessed quickly, whether awards reflect the full harm suffered and whether people with convictions receive a credible route to exoneration and compensation.
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