Hundreds of former Post Office operators are set to receive compensation after their personal details were inadvertently leaked by the Post Office in June 2024, according to reports from the BBC.
The organisation has confirmed that affected individuals will be eligible for payouts of either £5,000 or £3,500, depending on whether their current address was disclosed in the breach.
While compensation is officially capped at £5,000 per claimant, those with more substantial claims may pursue higher sums through legal channels.
This data breach, which saw the names and addresses of 555 victims of the notorious Horizon IT scandal published on the Post Office’s website, occurred nearly a year ago.
The blunder further deepened the fallout from what is already regarded as one of the most serious miscarriages of justice in British legal history.
In a statement, the Post Office said it had contacted all those affected directly or via their legal representatives.
“If any individuals believe they were impacted by the breach but have not yet received communication, we urge them or their solicitors to contact us,” it added.
Law firm Freeths, which represents 420 clients affected by the breach, confirmed that 348 of them had already received compensation.
Will Richmond-Coggan, a solicitor at the firm, said: “This is an important step, but the emotional and psychological toll this breach has taken on our clients cannot be overstated.”
Chris Head, a former sub-postmaster and long-time campaigner for justice, told the BBC that the Post Office’s admission had come “far too late”.
He added: “The anxiety, stress, and pain caused by this new breach has had a profound effect on me and my family — this on top of a decade of trauma stemming from the Horizon scandal itself.”
The breach first came to light in June 2023, prompting an apology from the Post Office and a commitment to cooperate with the Information Commissioner’s Office, which oversees data protection.
Nick Read, then Chief Executive of the Post Office, described the breach as a “truly terrible error” at the time.
Anger remains high among former operators, more than 900 of whom were wrongly prosecuted due to flaws in the Horizon accounting system. Many were left financially ruined or imprisoned.
In response to the wider scandal, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in her autumn 2024 budget that the government had allocated £1.8 billion to cover compensation claims.
As the sole shareholder in the Post Office, the government is ultimately responsible for funding the payouts. Compensation awards to date have varied from £10,000 to over £1 million.
