Horizon Family Members Redress Scheme Opens Registration

If your family was caught in the blast radius of the Post Office Horizon scandal, the letter published on Tuesday 14 July 2026 is important for a simple reason: it turns a long-promised scheme into a live process. Writing to the campaign group Lost Chances, Department for Business and Trade official Carl Creswell said registration for the Horizon Family Members Redress Scheme would open on Thursday 16 July 2026, ahead of cases being processed later in the year. (gov.uk) That may sound like a small administrative update, but it is not small to the people waiting. Lost Chances has spent years arguing that Horizon’s damage did not stop with the postmaster at the counter. It reached partners, children, parents and siblings too. Ministers set out the scheme’s wider design in March 2026 after accepting the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry’s call for redress for close family members of those most badly affected. (gov.uk)

Here is the first thing to keep straight: registration is not the same as compensation. GOV.UK says the form opening on 16 July is there so families can enter basic information and start initial checks. Formal case processing is expected to begin in autumn 2026, once the Department has appointed an external supplier to manage claims. (gov.uk) **What this means:** if you register now, you are not proving your whole case on day one. You are putting your name into the system early. Blair McDougall’s written statement to Parliament says cases will be handled in the order they are received, so people who register now should be among the first to have their claims looked at. People who wait can still apply, but they are likely to be seen later. (hansard.parliament.uk)

Who counts as family under this scheme? The latest guidance says you can register if you are a close family member of an existing Horizon claimant, meaning a postmaster who has already received compensation through one of the main Horizon redress schemes. The guidance names spouses and ex-spouses, partners and ex-partners, parents, siblings, and children, including stepchildren and adopted children. (gov.uk) Most applicants will also need to show they lived continuously with the postmaster relative for at least one year during the relevant period. There is an important exception in cases where death was caused by Horizon, because cohabitation is not required there. GOV.UK also says you can still register if you are not sure whether your relative has already been compensated, because that point can be checked later. (gov.uk) There are boundaries too. The guidance says people with a criminal conviction related to Horizon cannot register, and estate claims cannot be brought on behalf of family members who have died, because the government says evidence is too difficult to establish. That will be one of the harder edges of this policy for some families to read. (gov.uk)

The scheme itself has two routes. The first is the events-based route, which is designed to be simpler and lighter-touch. It offers flat-rate payments where a postmaster relative experienced a qualifying event tied to the scandal, such as bankruptcy, malicious prosecution, conviction or imprisonment, or death caused by Horizon. The second route is for fully assessed personal injury claims, where a family member says Horizon caused them their own mental or physical injury and wants an award tailored to that harm. (gov.uk) This two-track design is really the government trying to solve an evidence problem. In March, ministers said many relatives would struggle to produce old medical records or other proof, so a scheme built only around formal evidence would leave some families with nothing. That is why the events-based route exists. At the same time, the fuller personal injury route remains open for people who can show specific harm. (gov.uk) March proposals also said that people eligible for both routes would be able to compare both offers and take the higher one, although fuller operational guidance is still due later in 2026. So, for now, families have the broad map but not every rulebook page. (gov.uk)

There is still a lot we do not know, and that matters. Carl Creswell’s 14 July letter says officials are still considering feedback from Lost Chances and plan another policy update later in 2026 before the scheme becomes fully operational. The registration guidance explains how to get into the process, but it does not yet publish the flat-rate amounts for events-based claims, and it says fuller detail on how personal injury claims will work will come later in the year. (gov.uk) Still, some practical points are now clearer. You do not need to upload supporting documents when you first register, but you should expect to prove your identity, address and relationship later. GOV.UK also says families should use only the official government form rather than links sent by email or text, and DBT warns applicants not to agree to give away a percentage of any eventual award in return for advice. (gov.uk) Another detail is easy to miss but important. The March design paper said DBT will appoint an independent claims facilitator and that the Post Office itself will not run the scheme, although it may provide some data from earlier compensation cases. For families with good reason to distrust the institution at the centre of the scandal, that separation is not a minor point. (gov.uk)

This letter also sits inside a much bigger story. Official figures published by the Department for Business and Trade and Post Office say that, as of 22 May 2026, about £1.595 billion had been paid to more than 12,600 claimants across the main Horizon redress schemes. The family members scheme is different because it is trying, belatedly, to recognise harm that was real but often less visible: damaged mental health, broken relationships, fear, instability and the long after-effects of public accusation and financial ruin. (gov.uk) There is one further sign that ministers intend this to operate as a real compensation scheme rather than a symbolic gesture. HMRC published legislation on 1 July 2026 saying payments under the Horizon Family Members Redress Scheme will be exempt from Income Tax, Capital Gains Tax and Inheritance Tax, with effect from 22 July 2026. In other words, if an award is made, it is meant to arrive in full. (gov.uk) For affected families, then, the message from this week’s letter is mixed but meaningful. Registration opens today, Thursday 16 July 2026. That does not end the waiting, and it does not answer every question. But it does mean the scheme has moved one step closer to the point where families are not just being acknowledged in principle, but processed in practice. (gov.uk)