Post Office to compensate hundreds after accidental leak of personal data

The UK Post Office has announced financial compensation for hundreds of former subpostmasters whose personal data was mistakenly published on its website in June 2024. The breach involved the names and addresses of 555 individuals wrongfully convicted in the notorious Horizon IT scandal, which has been labeled one of the gravest miscarriages of justice in British legal history.

The Post Office confirmed that affected individuals would receive compensation payments of either £5,000 or £3,500, depending on whether the leaked address was their current place of residence. While these amounts are capped, individuals who can demonstrate greater harm may pursue higher claims under special circumstances.

A Post Office spokesperson stated that all named individuals had been contacted either directly or through their legal representatives. “If there are any individuals whose name was impacted by last year’s breach, but who have not received information about the payment for some reason, they can contact us or ask their solicitors if they have legal representation,” the spokesperson added.

The law firm Freeths, which represents a significant number of the affected subpostmasters, confirmed that 348 of its 420 clients had already received interim compensation. The firm expects most of the victims to obtain what it described as “significant interim compensation payments.” Will Richmond-Coggan, the lead lawyer on the case, acknowledged the progress made but emphasized the enduring emotional toll the breach has had on those affected. He noted that efforts are ongoing to secure a final resolution that adequately reflects the breach’s impact.

The data breach came to light in June 2024, prompting a formal apology from the Post Office and a referral to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which has since opened an investigation. At the time, Post Office CEO Nick Read called the incident a “truly terrible error.”

The leak added further distress to individuals already dealing with the fallout from the Horizon scandal, in which over 900 subpostmasters were wrongly prosecuted based on faulty accounting software. Many suffered severe financial and reputational damage as a result. One former operator, Chris Head, speaking to the BBC, described the latest incident as another source of immense personal strain, saying the breach had compounded years of trauma for himself and his family.

In October 2024, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that the government, the sole shareholder in the Post Office, had allocated £1.8 billion to fund compensation claims linked to the Horizon scandal. Payments so far have ranged from £10,000 to more than £1 million, depending on the severity of each case.