Early Engagement- Claims Facilitator Services

Background

Post Office Limited (POL) is a Government owned business, sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). It operates at arm's length from Government as a commercial business with its own board.

The Post Office Horizon IT scandal saw hundreds of postmasters prosecuted by the Post Office between 2000-2014. A Group Litigation Order (GLO) brought by a number of postmasters was settled in December 2019. After paying fees the postmasters shared c. £10.5m of the £57.75m settlement paid by POL. Paradoxically this group received less than those not in the group who have since been able to apply for compensation under the Historical Shortfall Scheme and arrangement for overturned criminal convictions. The group has since campaigned for HMG to make further payments and in March 2022 the Government announced it would make further funding available to ensure members of the GLO will receive compensation similar to their non-GLO peers.

The Government is in the process of consulting on a scheme to give those in the GLO similar compensation to their non-GLO peers. This scheme will be open to those in the GLO who were not convicted of a criminal offence. An outline of the scheme design has been sent to Postmasters in the group. A copy of this letter and supplemental note to legal advisors can be found here.

Detail of Requirements

There is a defined cohort of claimants of 492.

To support this requirement we are looking to procure claims facilitators with (Alternative Dispute Resolution) ADR skills to help facilitate the process between the parties and provide the factual reports to the panel. We would also be looking for the claims facilitators to provide a secure portal to manage documents. Due to the sensitivity of the data the portal will need to be hosted in the UK. Access for claimants and legal advisors will be limited to relevant cases. The Department expects that between a significant number of pages of documents will need to be uploaded for each of the 492 cases

BEIS would require ADR specialists whose role is to act as independent facilitators, encouraging the parties towards rapid and fair resolution of claims. We expect that the selected firm will be able to deploy both ADR specialists and supporting administrative staff.

Market Engagement Event

We will be hosting a market engagement event where we will outline the envisaged method for delivery of compensation and the details of the scheme. BEIS are inviting feedback from the market on how firms with ADR expertise can help BEIS to deliver compensation to those in the GLO similar to their non-GLO peers. We are also keen to understand whether suppliers are interested in bidding for this requirement in its current form.

We will be holding an Early Market Engagement session online at 12:00 - 13:00 on Thursday 13 October 2022.

Please email James Lovesey ([email protected]) and Elena Michael ([email protected]) by 17:00 Monday 10 October 2022 to book your place.

Other Information

Please note that spaces are currently limited and therefore a maximum of 2 people per organisation are permitted. Early registration is recommended. Please also note this event is restricted to industry specific organisations and BEIS reserve the right to restrict attendees accordingly. This notice has been issued only to invite interested parties to a market engagement event. The contracting authority reserves the right not to commence any formal procurement process. The contracting authority also does not commit to any particular procurement route or method for its future procurement approach