The Insolvency Service has urged postmasters who believe they may have been made bankrupt due to the Horizon IT system to share their details with the agency.
The agency, which administers personal bankruptcies, said it is now undertaking enquiries to identify Hoizon cases, in order to investigate whether these bankruptcy orders should be reviewed.
“We are aware that in some instances, postmasters were made bankrupt by the Post Office Limited, which may have been as a result of the financial discrepancies reported, incorrectly, by the Horizon IT system. Furthermore, due to the financial impact of the situation, some postmasters may have petitioned for their own bankruptcy or made a bankruptcy application to Office of the Adjudicator,” the agency said in a statement.
The move follows the quashing of several convictions of the postmasters who were prosecuted using evidence from Horizon, which is now known to have been unreliable, by the Court of Appeal and Crown Court.
The Insolvency Service has asked those postmasters who have been subject to a bankruptcy/adjudicator or sequestration order since 2000, resided in England, Wales or Scotland, and believe they were impacted by the Horizon discrepancies, to contact them via Horizoncases@insolvency.gov.uk.
Please ensure you provide the following information:
- full name;
- date of birth;
- contact details;
- court/bankruptcy reference number relating to your bankruptcy (if available);
- where your bankruptcy/adjudicator or sequestration order was made, i.e. England/Wales or Scotland; and
- a brief overview of how you were affected.
