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Sir Wyn Williams, who was appointed chair of the inquiry in September, has published a Statement of Approach, setting out how the inquiry will engage with relevant parties.
Senior members of the Post Office Limited, Fujitsu and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) will be invited to give evidence in formal open sessions to be held in May 2021.
In addition, public sessions will also be held in winter 2020 to 2021 to “understand the human cost” to those impacted by the longstanding Horizon dispute.
The inquiry follows the conclusion and a settlement of £57.75m in December 2019 at the end of a long-running civil court case brought against Post Office Limited by a group of postmasters regarding issues related to the Horizon IT system.
Williams said: “I fully understand that many participants have an expressed view that their experiences have not been properly acknowledged and that there has been a failure to hold anyone to account for what occurred over very many years.
“The process of obtaining evidence will be robust and transparent wherever possible although there may be instances in which the need to respect privacy and the need for sensitivity means that private hearings will have to be accommodated.”
Further details will be published at the end of November.
