Post Office scandal severely impacted mental health of victims' families, study finds

The Post Office scandal continues to have a “severe” impact on the mental health and lives of the loved ones of victims, new research shows, calling on for tailored support for “secondary victims”.

Children (now adults), partners (including former partners), and other family members of those wrongly pursued by the Post Office, show high levels of PTSD and depressive symptoms as well as ongoing anxiety and stress.

This research indicates there is an urgent need for dedicated and tailored support for “secondary victims” impacted by this miscarriage of justice and the generational trauma that has followed as a result.

Experts examined the “ripple-effect” of harms on these “secondary victims”. As part of this work they used six clinical measures to gain insight into the impacts the Post Office scandal has had on participants’ mental health, life experiences, attitudes and beliefs.

The study was carried out by Dr Sally Day, Professor Rebecca Helm and Professor Richard Moorhead from the University of Exeter, Dr Emily Spearing, from the University of Western Australia and Dr Karen Nokes, from UCL. It has been shared with the official Inquiry, the victim core partipicant legal teams, and the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board.

Professor Helm said, “Our work suggests secondary victims of the scandal experience mental illness symptoms at worryingly high levels compared to the general population.”

At the end of the survey, participants were provided with the opportunity to share any further thoughts about the impact of the scandal. A total of 51 completed every part of the survey and 108 started it. Some indicated that they were not able to complete it due to acute suffering related to the scandal.

Clinical scales were not used to suggest or confirm medical diagnoses, but instead to develop knowledge of the variety and extent of possible harms caused by the scandal.

Many respondents met the clinical cut-off for post-traumatic stress symptoms (66.7 per cent of the 54 respondents answering the relevant questions) and depressive symptoms (69.8 per cent of the 53 respondents asking the relevant questions).

A total of 54.7 per cent of the 54 respondents who completed the anxiety-related questions met the cut-off point for requiring evaluation for high levels of anxiety (with 41.5 per cent of participants meeting criteria indicating severe anxiety).

Professor Moorhead said, “Our research clearly demonstrates how large the scandal looms in the lives of close family members of the subpostmasters and mistresses. The pain they live with is beyond sobering.

“Some family members told us they felt invisible in terms of accessing professional support services and experienced a lack of official recognition of their needs.”

The partners of those affected spoke of how lives had been “ruined” and futures altered by the impacts of the scandal. Children of former subpostmasters reported mirroring their parents’ strategies for coping, often feeling unable to disclose difficulties and access support.

Many reported feeling as if their childhoods had been “stolen” by the Post Office.

Respondents spoke of the care they hold for their family member who was a direct victim of the scandal, and how many live with a constant dread, fear, and anxiety that their family member was still at risk of having a serious mental health crisis, a nervous breakdown, and/or taking their own life.

Dr Day said, “This research highlights the ongoing mental health vulnerabilities generated from the scandal that families are forced to manage in their daily lives, largely on their own, and the potential for official responses to play a role in addressing some of the harm caused by the scandal.”