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What Happened Before the Post Office Horizon Working Group Was Wound Up?

The working group was announced to be wound up a day before Second Sight expected to circulate a draft. Here is what the timeline does—and does not—establish.
From TheFinanceBase Team2 min to read
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On 10 March 2015, the Post Office announced that the Horizon working group would be wound up. According to Second Sight’s account, cited by inquiry counsel Jason Beer KC in his 12 October 2022 opening statement, the group was due to receive a draft report the next day. Second Sight also said it was told on 10 March that its contract was being terminated. That chronology explains the “day before” claim, but it does not by itself establish that Post Office bosses made a specific misleading statement to subpostmasters on 9 March.

What happened the day before Second Sight’s report?

The date at the centre of the sequence is 10 March 2015. The Post Office announced that the working group set up around the Horizon investigation was to be wound up. In his opening statement to the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry on 12 October 2022, counsel Jason Beer KC recounted Second Sight’s account that it had been due to circulate a draft report to working-group members the following day, 11 March.

Second Sight said it was notified on 10 March that its contract was being terminated. These were separate developments: the working group’s announced closure, the expected circulation of a draft, and the notification about Second Sight’s contract. The later updated report was completed on 9 April 2015; it should not be confused with the draft that had been due to circulate.

The inquiry’s evidence archive contains Second Sight report material. The sequence and its attribution are set out in Beer KC’s opening statement transcript.

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Does the chronology prove subpostmasters were misled?

No specific statement made by a named Post Office boss to subpostmasters on 9 March is established by this chronology. The timing raises an accountability question, but it is not, on its own, proof that anyone misled subpostmasters that day. The careful conclusion is narrower: a draft was reportedly due to be circulated on 11 March, while the working group’s closure was announced and Second Sight says it was notified of contract termination on 10 March.

What did Second Sight investigate?

Second Sight Support Services Limited says it was appointed by the Post Office to independently investigate matters raised by current and former subpostmasters. Its work included analysis of applications to the Complaints Review and Mediation Scheme. The report states that 150 applications were received before the scheme deadline and that 136 cases were being processed.

Those figures describe the scheme, not the total number of people affected by Horizon or the full scale of the problems. Second Sight also cautioned that issues identified in a limited set of applications could have wider relevance. The inquiry evidence archive hosts the report material on the investigation’s remit and scheme.

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How to read the dates and figures

  • 10 March 2015: the working group was announced to be wound up; Second Sight says it was told that day that its contract was being terminated.
  • 11 March 2015: the date Second Sight reportedly expected to circulate a draft to working-group members.
  • 9 April 2015: completion date of the updated Part Two report.
  • 150 applications and 136 cases: counts reported for the Complaints Review and Mediation Scheme, not totals for all Horizon-affected subpostmasters.

The dates and figures come from different records and have different meanings. In particular, an expected draft circulation is not the same event as completion of the updated report, and scheme applications are not a count of all potential claimants or victims.

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