Progress Update from Sir Wyn Williams

1. A year ago today, I made public Volume 1 of my report. As I made clear in my Introduction to that Volume, I was determined that the “human impact” endured by those who were adversely affected by Horizon should be placed at the forefront of my report to the Minister. Furthermore, it seemed natural to combine my description of the suffering endured by so many with my assessment of, and conclusions about, the attempts made by the Post Office, the Minister and the Department to provide redress to those affected which was “full fair and prompt”. In the months immediately after the close of the Inquiry’s hearings, therefore, most of my time was spent on Volume 1.

    

2. Having written Volume 1, it seemed obvious that it should be published promptly; it was capable of being read as a discrete part of my report and it contained a number of recommendations relating to the issue of redress which I hoped would be accepted within the timescale I set out in Recommendation 1 and implemented in early course thereafter. 

    

3. Following the publication of Volume 1, I turned my attention to the remainder of my report, although, of course, parts of my Team had been undertaking necessary preparatory work while I was concentrating on Volume 1. I quickly formed the view that the remainder of my report would be split into 5 Volumes. The Volumes would cover the period from the “birth” of Legacy Horizon to a suitable date this year. Each Volume would cover a specified time period; each Volume would, so far as reasonably possible, follow a chronological narrative.

    

4.  My working assumption in the summer of last year was that I would complete these 5 Volumes within a period of about 12 months. As my drafting work has progressed, however, I have come to realise that my working assumption was too optimistic. It has taken me longer than I expected to properly analyse the salient parts of the written and oral evidence, the huge volume of documents and the very detailed written submissions of the Core Participants. It is also worth noting that several of the remaining Volumes are necessarily substantial in length, reflecting the scale of the evidence and complexity of the issues they address.

    

5. All that said what is known in the world of Public Inquiries as the Maxwellisation process is now underway. For the sake of brevity, I do not propose to describe that process in detail. It suffices to say that I am subject to a legal requirement to provide a written warning to those individuals or institutions likely to be the subject of criticism in my report. They are entitled to be given notice of the substance of the criticism, and they may, if they so choose, make representations to me about the proposed criticism. Obviously, I must afford to those who are the subject of criticism time to digest what I say and respond if they think it appropriate. In the light of the responses I receive I will have to make a determination about whether my criticisms should be modified or removed when I publish the remainder of my report.

    

6. Warning letters to those who have been criticised in Volumes 2 and 3 have been sent out. Over the course of the coming months, I anticipate that warning letters will be despatched to those criticised in Volumes 4 to 6 inclusive. I do not propose to pause this process during what is regarded by lawyers, traditionally, as the summer vacation i.e. August and September. I recognise there is compelling need to publish the remaining 5 Volumes of my report as soon as is reasonably practicable.   

    

7. I have given some thought to whether I should publish the remaining 5 Volumes sequentially as and when they are finalised. I am firmly of the view that this way of proceeding is to be avoided. Volumes 2 to 5 are inextricably linked. They must be published and considered together if the reader is to gain a proper understanding of the myriad of events and decisions which are described and analysed in those Volumes. No useful purpose would be served by publishing Volume 6 (which is concerned with the events and issues which have arisen since the conclusion of the litigation between Sir Alan Bates and the Post Office) before Volumes 2 to 5.  In any event I do not think that sequential publication of the Volumes would materially bring forward the date when the whole of the remainder of my report is made public.   

    

8. The reality is that I am still some months away from completing the necessary work for the report to be ready for publication. I appreciate that for some it will seem as if an inordinate length of time has elapsed since the Inquiry’s hearings came to a close and that a further significant period of time will elapse before the remainder of my report is published. All I can say in response is that my Team and I have been and are working through a vast amount of material as quickly as we reasonably can in all the circumstances.  

   

Sir Wyn Williams

8 July 2026