Delving into some of the specifics around compensation, Wyn Williams says "a large proportion of claims continue to be difficult to resolve".

He says his legal team have found that up until June of this year, 9,887 claims have been made - and 6,420 have been accepted.

"There are still more than 3,000 claims to resolve," Williams says - adding that there've been "egregious delays" to compensation at almost every stage.

Image source, Getty Images

Williams - chair of the Post Office inquiry - comments on how many people are sat before him and says he's "always been extremely grateful for the interest shown in this inquiry".

After recapping the various strands of his inquiry, he explains that he considered it essential to release today's partial report - rather than wait for a fuller one - due to the issues there've been with victims receiving compensation.

Williams goes on to say the picture revealed in this volume of his report is "profoundly disturbing".

He says bankruptcies occurred, marriages and families have been wrecked, businesses ruined and finances affected.

We're now hearing from Wyn Williams, chair of the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry and the author of today's report.

Stick with us as we bring you key details from his statement - you can also watch it live at the top of the page.

"Today, we apologise unreservedly for the suffering which Post Office caused to postmasters and their loved ones," a spokesperson says, explaining that the inquiry "brought to life the devastating stories" of those impacted by the scandal.

"Their experiences represent a shameful period in our history.

"We will carefully consider the report and its recommendations."

A visibly emotional Seema Misra has just reacted to the report's findings - she says all these years on she's yet to receive her full and final compensation.

"The report itself is very, very thoughtful," she tells the BBC, adding that she believes legal redress for those seeking compensation "should be free".

She also says the "fight is still on" in terms of accountability: "The actual culprits need to go behind bars."

• As a reminder: Seema was eight weeks pregnant when she was sentenced to 15 months in prison after being wrongly convicted of stealing from her Post Office branch in West Byfleet, Surrey. She eventually gave birth to her second son while wearing an electronic tag.

Image source, PA Media

We're beginning to get some reaction from those at the centre of this scandal.

Campaigner and former sub-postmaster Jo Hamilton says the Post Office inquiry's report "shows the full scale of the horror that they unleashed on us".

• We'll bring you more reaction from victims shortly, stick with us

Emily Atkinson
Live editor, at the inquiry

A large part of the 162-page report is dedicated to what's referred to as the human impact of the scandal. I will summarise the key parts below – some of the details may be distressing:

The inquiry's chair Wyn Williams notes the trauma suffered by those who were interviewed under caution, prosecuted and convicted.

Post-conviction, many were subject to “harsh and abusive behaviour” from members of their community, and were ostracised.

Many considered or subjected themselves to self-harm, and suffered psychological harm and health issues. In addition, 19 people said they abused alcohol, which they attributed to their experiences with Horizon and the Post Office.

The family members of sub-postmasters also endured “very significant” suffering”. Some spoke of the adverse impact on their children, while many experienced “vitriolic abuse from local community”.

Many sub-postmasters also described significant delays in receiving compensation.

• If you are affected by any of the issues raised in our coverage, support and advice is available via the BBC Action Line

Emily Atkinson
Live editor, at the lock-in

• Errors in the system: The Post Office and Fujitsu "knew, or at the very least should have known", the Horizon IT system used in PO branches had faults. The sub-postmasters are also described as “victims of wholly unacceptable behaviour” by the two companies
• Impact on sub-postmasters and their families: It is “impossible to ascertain” how many people suffered, the report says. Many endured abuse in their local communities, considered or subjected themselves to self-harm, suffered psychological harm, lost their homes, suffered financial, physical and mental distress, and turned to alcoholism
• Lives lost: Thirteen people were found to have taken their own lives, six former sub-postmasters and seven others who were not sub-postmasters. The inquiry's chair Wyn Williams says he also "received evidence from at least 59 persons who contemplated suicide at various points in time and who attributed this to their experiences with Horizon and/or the Post Office"
• The key numbers: Approximately 1,000 Post Office workers were prosecuted, and only 50-60 were not convicted. Thousands were suspended - considerably more than those who faced criminal proceedings - and many later had their contracts terminated
• Delays to compensation: The delivery of redress to claimants under three separate schemes has been “bedevilled with unjustifiable delays”, and while some are satisfied, there are many who are not
• Redress: The government will devise a programme of redress to close family members of those most adversely affected. Additionally, the government, Post Office and Fujitsu will agree a programme of restorative justice

In a few minutes' time, the first report from the Post Office inquiry will be published and we'll bring you the key findings right here.

Remember: this part is on human impact and compensation, so don’t expect anything on who's to blame for the scandal.

Then at 12:30 we’ll get a statement from the inquiry's chair Wyn Williams, which we’ll also cover live - and you'll be able to watch at the top of the page.

Stick with us as we bring you the latest.

Image source, Getty Images

Katie Hunter
BBC Scotland reporter, at the inquiry

Ahead of the report being published, I've been speaking to Ravinder Naga - he falsely confessed to stealing money from his mother's post office in Greenock in 2009 to protect her from going to prison.

Appeal judges overturned his conviction last year.

He tells me today that he's after one thing: accountability.

"The people who died, they don't know their names have been cleared. They died before all this came out," he says.

While the focus of today's report will be on the victims and compensation, Naga says he ultimately wants those responsible for the scandal to go to prison.

"I want justice," he adds.

Emma Simpson
Business correspondent, at the inquiry

Dozens of victims and their families will be at the event today to hear Post Office inquiry chair Wyn Williams speak, including Wendy Buffrey and Nichola Arch from Gloucestershire. I spoke to them before they headed off.

Wendy was suspended after an audit in 2008 and prosecuted. She was scared into pleading guilty to fraud and did community service. She had to sell her house and business, and has suffered with her mental health.

"To actually have the establishment recognise what they've put us through is huge", she says.

"The apologies we've had from the Post Office have been so mealy-mouthed, not thought through, and really not sincere".

Nichola was accused of stealing from her branch and ended up being shunned by the community in her village and spat on outside a local supermarket. After two years she was found not guilty, "but the damage had been done by then".

"I think it's going to be really emotional for a lot of people, because he [Williams] really gets it."

"He's listened to some horrific stories, and so his report is going to contain some horrific findings."

Emily Atkinson
Live editor, at the inquiry

Image source, BBC / Emily Atkinson

Good morning from the Oval in south London.

I’m here with a BBC team to bring you the findings of the first volume of the final Post Office inquiry report.

A short while ago, we and other journalists were led into a room, handed a paper copy of the report, and given three hours to read, digest and package the key lines before they’re released publicly.

During this time, we’re not able to contact anyone outside the room. (Don't fear, I wrote this post a little earlier!)

There is one exception, though. We’re given a short window to discuss the report with our editors back at base right before it's published at 12:00 BST.

While you wait - and we get frantically reading and highlighting - our team in the newsroom will continue taking you through the background to this scandal.

See you on the other side.

Image source, BBC / Emily Atkinson

Image source, PA Media

The Post Office scandal had a devastating impact on many sub-postmasters and their families - like Lee Castleton in our last post.

Many faced financial ruin. Some were sent to prison over the false accusations, while others died waiting for justice. Here are some of their stories:

• Former sub-postmistress and a leading campaigner, Seema Misra, was sentenced to 15 months in prison while she was eight weeks pregnant after being wrongly convicted of stealing from her Post Office branch in West Byfleet, Surrey. She served four-and-a-half months and gave birth to her second son while wearing an electronic tag
• Anjana and Baljit Sethi were left in financial ruin when the faulty Horizon IT system made it appear as though money was missing in one of the two branches they ran near Romford in east London. The couple lost their businesses, became bankrupt, and their reputation in the local community was destroyed. Baljit ended up working as a low-paid night security guard, struggling to make ends meet
• Peter Holmes, a manager at a post office in Jesmond, a suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne, died from a brain tumour aged 74, in 2015. Six years later, his conviction was overturned. He is among 60 to 70 people who have died without justice, lead campaigner Alan Bates estimates
• Former sub-postmistress Jo Hamilton was wrongly convicted of false accounting. Following the conviction, she was forced to give up her shop and ended up doing cleaning jobs for people in her village who didn't believe she was guilty. Her conviction was eventually quashed in 2021
• Sue Palmer is former sub-postmistress who lost her house and went bankrupt after fighting to clear her name when she was wrongly prosecuted. She was found not guilty, but she was still dismissed from her role - losing her income, house and reputation as a result

Image source, PA Media

Image source, PA Media

We've heard from a few sub-postmasters already this morning, ahead of the report's release.

Lee Castleton was declared bankrupt after losing a two-year legal battle when the Post Office falsely accused him of stealing £25,000 from his branch in Bridlington, East Yorkshire in 2004.

Speaking to our colleagues on Radio 4's Today programme, Castleton says a recurring issue is that the current compensation schemes are "disruptive".

The part of the report being published today will not apportion blame for the failures of the Horizon system, or the way the Post Office reacted, instead it will address the cost of the scandal on the hundreds of wrongly-prosecuted sub-postmasters as well as compensation.

People on both sides "are still fighting a war", Castleton says, adding that some of those affected continue to be "victimised" today.

He says today's report will revisit "painful times for all the group" - "but it is important to look at the impacts in order to move forward".

This report is sure to be damning - but justice is still a long way offpublished at 10:12 British Summer Time 8 July

10:12 BST 8 July

Emma Simpson
Business correspondent, at the inquiry

This is another big milestone in the long road to justice for the victims caught up in the nightmare of the Post Office scandal.

The harm and the suffering they’ve endured has been immense. The hearings began with sub-postmasters telling their stories.

Wyn Williams put them at the heart of the inquiry’s work, which has pored over several decades worth of technical evidence and grilled many of those who had a role in ruining so many lives.

Now nearly three years on, the sub-postmasters will get recognition of what they’ve been through from an official public inquiry.

Williams will surely be damning in his findings. He could hardly be anything less given all the evidence he has heard.

The victims, and the public, want people to be held to account. But it’s going to be months before we find out who Williams will point the finger of blame at. Justice is still a long way off.

Image source, PA Media

• What is it? An independent, statutory inquiry to "gather a clear account of the implementation and failings of the Horizon IT system at the Post Office over its lifetime"
• When did it begin? In February 2022, but the scandal came to wider public attention last year after it was depicted in an ITV drama, Mr Bates vs The Post Office.
• How has it been conducted? Nearly 300 witnesses have given oral evidence, 780 witness statements have been submitted and more than 270,000 documents dealt with, encompassing a quarter of a century.
• Who's in charge? Chair Wyn Williams, a former High Court judge who rose to become the senior presiding judge for Wales. Since his retirement, he has been mostly involved in mediating sports-related disputes - until he took on the Post Office inquiry.
• What's been covered? How the scandal has impacted victims, the action taken against them, and the design and roll-out of the IT system, among other areas.
• Where are we at now? The seventh and final phase wrapped in November, and the inquiry heard closing statements a month later. The chair's now compiling his final report - the first part of which is being released today.

Emily Atkinson
Live editor, at the inquiry

Today, the Post Office inquiry, which has spanned more than two years, will share the first part of its final report on the Horizon IT scandal. It's a moment those affected have waited a long time for.

In 1999, the Post Office rolled out new accounting software, Horizon, to its network of local branches. Soon after, unexplained shortfalls began appearing in sub-postmasters' accounts.

Some used their own money to cover the losses, others had their contracts terminated or were aggressively pursued by the Post Office in the criminal and civil courts.

Ultimately, more than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongfully convicted of false accounting, theft and fraud, based on faulty Horizon data. Some 236 were sent to prison.

The victims and their families say they lost their livelihoods, faced bankruptcy, endured marriage breakdowns, addiction, stress-related health issues and even premature death.

Almost six years have passed since 555 sub-postmasters, led by Alan Bates, were vindicated in the High Court. The ruling played a crucial role in exposing the scandal, but many still await compensation - something this part of the report will address.

It's due to drop at midday - stay with us for live updates, analysis and reaction throughout the day.