Latest updates
May 2026
In late May we held two online victim engagement sessions. You can find a summary of the updates given below:
- Our ongoing priority remains to deliver justice for victims and families affected by the Post Office Horizon scandal.
- We know that many victims have been living with the impact of this for 24 years and we do not have the luxury of time so must provide answers as soon as possible.
- The investigation remains complex. Detectives are currently holding eight million documents which is set to grow.
- Many of these documents need to be forensically reviewed and considered so the team can piece together exactly what happened, establish who knew what and understand the role suspects may have played.
- The threshold to bring criminal charges is high, so the team must be confident that the evidence presented to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has the best possible chance of meeting the standard.
- Seven more suspect interviews under caution have taken place in 2026, so that is now 13 in total out of the 53 people currently under investigation.
- Each interview involves detailed examination of material and planning.
- The team continues to work closely with the CPS and have submitted several files for Early Investigative Advice (EIA). This means prosecutors are already working with us to help build our case as quickly and effectively as possible.
- There are funding challenges to overcome at a time when police force resources are already stretched. To meet the proposed timeline of submitting files for charging decisions in late 2027/early 2028, the investigation team needs doubling in size from 111 to 210.
- Without this, there is a risk that timelines could get pushed back by as much as five years which is unacceptable.
- The investigation team recently received a Home Office Special Grant of £2.8m which covers some costs but additional and long-term funding is urgently needed to meet the projected budget of up to £19.3m for 2026/27 and beyond.
Previous updates
During late November and early December 2025, we held a number of online victim engagement sessions. These provided an update on progress in the investigation.
The following details were shared:
- The investigation team remains around 111 strong and we have made significant progress since we reached those numbers in December 2024.
- We’ve previously spoken about the number of documents we are reviewing and this continues to build. We’re now at 7.5 million, where it was previously 1.1 million.
- We have eight named suspects that we are focussed on currently, with a pool of 53 persons of interest. Most of these will likely be raised to suspect status as the investigation progresses.
- We have conducted five interviews under caution and have more planned in 2026.
- Over the past 12 months, there has been an ongoing process of providing case file material (Early Investigative Advice) to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in respect of some of our suspects. This has been aided by the larger team. This will continue until CPS have sufficient material to allow them to make any charging decisions.
- Unlike a regular investigation, these files are extensive in their own right. They draw on all the material we currently have available, along with the need to cross reference other people and documents. As you can imagine, this is complex and labour intensive.
- We are testing the use of AI and whilst we know this will be time saving, we must also be assured it is accurate, hence the testing.
New appeal
We're now able to appeal for victims who may have signed non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with the Post Office to come forward and speak to the investigation team.
We have written confirmation that these NDAs will no longer be enforced and should not prevent anyone from having their voice heard throughout the investigation. Victims can contact us by emailing [email protected].
This is a key moment as there may be some victims who have suffered in silence, never having spoken to anyone about their experience. That can now change and we're ready to listen.
Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry (POHITI) and the criminal investigation
We are anticipating the publication of the public inquiry’s final report in 2026. However, exactly when is not known and not in our control. We will need to fully consider its findings before we can approach the CPS for any charging decisions.
The final report is certainly a key document for us. It's also important to note though that the public inquiry was working to its own terms of reference and not to the investigative strategy we have.
While we have been working hard to review evidence and submit early investigative advice files to the CPS, we will still need to take stock and review the findings and content of the public inquiry once it is published.
This is in line with other similar investigations which run in tandem with a statutory public inquiry. The investigation team and CPS will need to assess the final report and its potential impact on Disclosure before any final charging decisions are made.
The process of reviewing the final report will take a number of months as it will need to be assessed against material already submitted. This is to identify if further submissions are needed.
It's certainly not unreasonable to assume that when the final report is in, we’ll be ready to submit for a charging decision. But the report will not represent all the evidence we need.
Since we recruited the full team last year, our processes and approach are much better understood and we have really picked up the pace. However, in doing so, we have identified a need for a further uplift to our investigation team to try and keep to our timescales. As a result, we're urgently speaking to the Home Office around future funding. Forces cannot fund this alone.
Given the size, scale and longevity of the criminal investigation, it's expected to cost in excess of £30 to £50 million over the next few years.
This cost is made up principally of staffing costs, but also IT licensing and storage too. Whilst there has been some Home Office grant funding, police forces are currently carrying the heavier burden of funding and this is not a sustainable position as we progress.
2026 is a pivotal year and every year from now will get even busier. It's challenging, complex work spanning 15 to 17 years of events and evidence. But we're fully committed and focussed on achieving our objectives.
Reserve your place on an online call to hear a progress update
It has been almost a year since our last victim engagement sessions so we'd like to give everyone the opportunity to hear an update from Commander Stephen Clayman (Gold lead for the investigation) and Michael Norman (Senior Investigating Officer). They'll discuss progress to date and next steps, as well as leading a short question and answer session at the end.
We're running three 60 minute sessions to ensure everyone has the chance to attend so if you'd like to join us, please register below and you'll receive joining details for the day.
Register in advance:
Letter from the Victim’s Commissioner to Minister for Business and Trade
Following the recent sessions for victims and individuals affected by the Post Office Horizon scandal, which were hosted by the Victim’s Commissioner for England and Wales, Baroness Newlove, please find below a letter sent to the Minister for Business and Trade. The letter is from Baroness Newlove and concerns the compensation scheme which we have been asked to share. Any further queries in relation to the compensation scheme should not be sent to the police team, as this is not their responsibility.
Investigation update
It's soon approaching a year since we last provided an opportunity for those affected by the Post Office Horizon scandal to hear from the investigation team. We have therefore booked in a number of online sessions hosted on Microsoft Teams in late November and early December. We will share the invitations to these soon. If you would like to be added to the mailing list to receive the links, please email [email protected].
While an in-person meet is always preferable, online does allow for a far greater reach and flexibility given the numbers and geography involved. The team would like to encourage as many of those affected to attend.
Criminal investigation gathers momentum
Six months since the police team investigating the Post Office Horizon scandal was strengthened to 100. Their work continues to gather pace with the scope ever increasing.
Currently, there are over 45 individuals under investigation as enquiries progress. Seven are formally identified as suspects.
At its introduction, the team, made up of officers and staff from around the country, began with around 1.5 million documents to review. Through evidence gathering, this has now increased to 6 million. The number of documents, suspects and victims is expected to rise.
The investigation is overseen by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and the Met, led by Commander Stephen Clayman. He said:
"Victims remain at the heart of this investigation and our contact with the many people affected by the Post Office Horizon scandal continues to increase. This week (25 June) the whole investigation team met in person for the first time during our operational development day, a valuable opportunity to come together and reaffirm our focus on the investigative strategy and discuss next steps.
"To date, four individuals have been interviewed. Two in late 2021, one in late 2024 and most recently one in early 2025. Formally identifying a suspect and preparing to question them takes a significant amount of time due to the volume of material and enquiries necessary so these numbers will continue to rise as the team’s work progresses.
"We are making progress and laying the foundations for what is to come. We all have a personal commitment to this investigation which goes far beyond documents and evidence. It is about the thousands of lives the Post Office Horizon scandal has impacted and we remain focussed on our goal of securing justice for those affected."
Four Regional Investigation Teams (RITs) are made up from police forces across England and Wales. Police Scotland and the Police Service of Northern Ireland are also making contributions.
Investigation team strengthened
The ongoing investigation will now be supported by a 100-strong team of skilled police officers and staff from across the UK to try and secure justice for the thousands of people affected by the Post Office Horizon scandal.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and the Metropolitan Police Service have been working with Chief Constables across the UK to build a national investigation team, which is now in place. The investigation is currently reviewing over 1.5 million documents, although the true scale is not yet known.
Four Regional Investigation Teams (RITs) are made up from police forces across England and Wales with Police Scotland, Police Service of Northern Ireland and the National Crime Agency, also making a contribution.
Op Olympos is currently investigating offences of perjury and perverting the course of justice and is not a reinvestigation of all of the prosecutions of sub postmasters. It is a focussed and proportionate investigation into potential criminality in the prosecutions of sub postmasters and the wider presentation of the Horizon IT system as robust.
The team has launched a Major Investigation Public Portal where anyone can submit information and documents and will shortly be publishing a dedicated webpage to provide updates and resources on the investigation as it progresses. The MIPP can be accessed here: Public Portal.
Briefings for sub postmasters and the media have been provided between 5 – 11 December.
Regional Investigation Teams (RITs) have now been established. Experienced investigators have been drawn from police forces across:
- England
- Wales
- Police Scotland
- PSNI
There are four teams divided geographically into North, South and East.
The Met coordinates this complex investigation. A Senior Investigating Officer directs the investigation, working closely with the CPS.
The investigation is run as a HOLMES Major Incident Room. It uses specialist software to search and assess the vast amount of material gathered.