#PostOfficeScandal Another brilliant article as always by @Karlfl at @ComputerWeekly Thank you for helping to highlight the continuing struggles by some to receive redress and the inconsistency applied to victims of the scandal. The @PostOffice doesn’t seem to be able to ever help itself generating bad press rather than doing the right thing. Such a poor unempathetic approach to those who have been wronged. Many had problems decades ago, some have suffered illness and others have died in the years since, but new cases are emerging, and some deserving of redress could miss out unless changes to rules are made. Former subpostmasters were entitled to a £75,000 fixed sum award under the Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS) if they had evidence of any unexplained shortfalls. This particular redress scheme has paid out over £1bn to subpostmasters. The statutory public inquiry into the scandal agreed to a date of midnight 27 November 2025, when no claims for financial redress under HSS could be made after. The Post Office accepted this recommendation, but decided on a later date of 31 January 2026. However, Computer Weekly has spoken to elderly former subpostmasters that were not even aware of the redress scheme until it was too late to apply and had applications rejected. Others have only discovered letters from the Post Office when their former subpostmaster parents have died. Last week, the government reconfirmed its commitment to providing compensation to every effected subpostmaster and “strengthening fairness”, but there is a cohort fighting for acceptance on redress schemes. Raft of changes In a recent statement after announcing a raft of changes to redress schemes, Post Office minister Kate Dearden said: “We remain unwavering in our commitment to provide fair, comprehensive and timely redress to all those affected and ensure that a scandal like this never happens again.” Chris Head, a former subpostmaster and victim of the scandal turned campaigner, said: “The Post Office says it wants to make sure that everybody who’s eligible receives their redress, but at the same time, there are people that are, for all sorts of different reasons, not going to receive it because they are refused access to a scheme.” Head said he is currently supporting about half a dozen cases where this is an issue. One case is that of Robert Nichol, a former subpostmaster who ran a Post Office branch in the village of Dalston, Cumbria, from 1982 to 2004. Speaking on his behalf, his wife, Anne Nichol, said they had problems with Horizon, with regular unexplainable shortfalls after being forced to replace paper-based accounting methods with the software in 2000. By 2004, Nichol resigned as a subpostmaster because “he just couldn’t cope with Horizon anymore”, said his wife. Now the couple face being left out of financial redress schemes. Anne Nichol said the couple, who have moved several times since giving up their branch, never received any correspondence from the Post Office regarding the redress they could apply for, and when they finally applied to the Horizon Shortfalls Scheme in March, they were rejected due its closure. The Post Office claims it sent letters to Mr Nichol. The first letter sent by the Nichols claiming redress was on 30 March, just two months after HSS closed for new applications at the end of January this year. “We’ve got eight emails of rejection, all saying the same thing,” Mrs Nichol told Computer Weekly. The latest Post Office rejection letter said: “We have reviewed the points you have raised and the information provided. We acknowledge your comments regarding not receiving correspondence about the HSS, your personal circumstances, and your views on the handling of late applications. However, as previously advised, the HSS is now closed to new applications. It is not possible to accept new applications under the scheme, and there is no appeals process in relation to this decision.” Read the full piece👇 computerweekly.com/news/3666…