Metro – Windrush campaigner fears Home Office will end compensation scheme
Windrush campaigner fears Home Office will end compensation scheme
A Windrush campaigner is worried the Home Office will scrap its compensation scheme by the end of the year.
Patrick Vernon fears ‘thousands of people will miss out completely’ on the chance to apply for remuneration for the scandal which saw many lose homes, jobs and face the threat of deportation in 2018.
He is the convener of the Windrush 75 network, which is running the marking of this week’s 75th anniversary of the ship HMT Empire Windrush arriving at Tilbury docks in 1948.
The activist thinks the government will shut down the opportunity for those whose lives have been devastated by the scandal to apply for compensation when the scheme has reached a certain limit.
But he accused officials of not offering enough support for people to navigate the process, saying it has been too complicated – and has ultimately ended up discouraging families from pursuing claims.
Mr Vernon said: ‘What the Home Office has not done is made the effort, they’ve not provided proper legal aid support or systems helping people to complete the forms.
‘A lot of people haven’t come forward yet. Therefore the Government is creating this narrative which is gaslighting further the Windrush generation.’
Yesterday, The Guardian reported that the unit set up for reforming the Home Office to prevent any repeat of a similar crisis has been ‘quietly disbanded’.
Staff were told in an online meeting that their work would be terminated on July 1, sources quoted by the daily newspaper said.
The Home Office said it does not comment on leaks and speculation but added there ‘have been and will continue to be team changes as the Windrush response is delivered’.
Mr Vernon also repeated existing calls for the administration of compensation to be stripped from the Home Office, reasoning it is not appropriate to have the ‘perpetrators’ of the scandal in charge of how the victims are atoned.
He said: ‘Of course some people have received compensation, some people have received decent compensation.
‘But the point I’m trying to make is that people don’t trust the Home Office. The Home Office is not the right department, they are the perpetrators, it should be independent.’
Global organisation Human Rights Watch made a similar appeal in April, after a report concluded Windrush victims are still being underpaid and enduring long waits.
It said an ‘unreasonable burden of truth’ was placed on the victims and argued legal aid should be granted for their applications.
Almaz Teffra, a researcher on racism in Europe at Human Rights Watch, said at the time: ‘Five years after the Windrush scandal came to light, the Home Office compensation scheme is compounding its injustice by denying claimants their right to redress for the life-altering losses and negative effects it has had on their lives for years.
‘The UK government should hand over the compensation scheme to an independent body that guarantees each claimant a fair and independent hearing.’
The Windrush scandal
Immigration laws announced by the then home secretary Theresa May in 2012 were designed to create a ‘hostile environment’ for people who were in the UK illegally. However the Home Office did not have records for those targeted — who were forced to prove they had the right to be in the country despite having been lawful residents for decades.
British citizens, mostly from the Caribbean, were stripped of basic rights. Many lost homes and jobs and were denied access to healthcare and benefits. The majority of the victims belong to the Windrush generation, named after the ship they arrived on.
The scandal was exposed in 2018 by The Guardian, and then prime minister Ms May apologised. Wendy Williams’ Windrush Review was published two years later, making 30 recommendations – all of which were accepted by former home secretary Priti Patel. But in January it was confirmed that her successor, Suella Braverman, had dropped three commitments.
Legal immigrant workers started arriving from the Caribbean on the HMT Empire Windrush 75 years ago this Thursday, in an answer to Britain’s call for help filling post-war labour shortages.
But five years ago it was revealed thousands of people who arrived between 1948 and 1971 had been incorrectly classed as illegal immigrants and struggled to find work, housing and access healthcare.
Some people who had lived in the UK for their entire lives were even deported.
An inquiry called the ‘Windrush Lessons Learned Review’ was launched and a compensation scheme was put in place to reimburse the victims of the scandal, but it has since faced repeated criticism.
The Home Office said: ‘The Government is honouring its Windrush commitments and providing support to those affected every day.
‘Over £72 million compensation has been paid or offered already and the scheme will stay open as long as needed. We will continue to keep our partners up to date.’