Nearly 70 public figures have signed an open letter urging the prime minister and home secretary to remove the Windrush compensation scheme from Home Office control. The letter backs a call by the Windrush Justice Community Collective (WJCC) for a radical overhaul of the scheme, which was established to compensate those, mainly Black Britons, who were wrongly classified as illegal migrants and stripped of citizenship rights over decades.
Call for Independent Oversight
The collective, whose members include Age UK, the Black Equity Organisation, Black Lives Matter UK, the Runnymede Trust, Southwark Law Centre, and the Windrush Justice Clinic, is demanding that the scheme be placed under an independent body overseen by a judge or commissioner. They are also calling for a statutory public inquiry, non-means-tested free legal assistance for Windrush scandal claimants, and for survivors to receive their preference of citizenship or indefinite leave to remain.
Complete Reset Needed
The letter calls for a “complete reset” of the redress scheme, noting that the denial of free legal support to Windrush survivors—unlike victims of the Post Office Horizon and infected blood scandals—has resulted in more than half receiving no compensation. Among the signatories are Labour MPs Clive Lewis and Nadia Whittome, activist Patrick Vernon, writers Afua Hirsch, Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff, and Reni Eddo-Lodge, musicians Joy Crookes and Akala, sculptor Anish Kapoor, UK Black Pride co-founder Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, and Southbank Centre chair Misan Harriman.
The letter states: “The Home Office continues to harm Black and Asian British citizens … Over 60 people have already died waiting for compensation. Each subsequent month of delay costs more lives. Inspired by the solidarity shown by Hillsborough and Grenfell families, we will not stay silent.”
Support from Disaster Survivors
Survivors of the Hillsborough and Grenfell disasters have labeled the Windrush compensation scheme a “complete failure.” In a letter last month to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, Grenfell United, which represents survivors of the 2017 London tower block fire and bereaved relatives, and members of Hillsborough Justice, which represents survivors of the 1989 stadium disaster and affected families, joined forces with the WJCC. They told Mahmood: “Our communities know too well the pain of state betrayal. We have seen loved ones die awaiting justice. We have fought for decades against cover-ups, institutional defensiveness, and a culture that prioritises protecting the government over repairing the harm done to innocent people. That is why we speak with one voice.”
Compensation Failures Highlighted
In April, the Guardian revealed that the Home Office had refused to pay compensation for more than half the claims made by Windrush survivors. The National Audit Office found that the average payout for a successful claim was £32,100. It noted: “Some cases initially turned down by the Home Office were reconsidered and compensation awarded when solicitors filed the same cases.” Research by the legal reform charity Justice and law firm Dechert LLP found that one claimant’s offer went from zero to £295,000 with legal support, while another’s rose from £300 to £170,000.
Commissioner’s Call for Overhaul
This month, the independent Windrush commissioner, Clive Foster, told MPs that survivors should receive legal support to reduce the number of denied payouts and align the scheme with other state compensation programs. Foster said that making the Home Office responsible for delivering compensation to people affected by mistakes made by its own staff was misguided. A WJCC event on Friday at the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton, south London, was expected to feature speakers including BCA chief executive Wanda Wyporska, Labour MP for Clapham and Brixton Hill Bell Ribeiro-Addy, and Windrush survivor Thomas Tobierre, urging the government to act on Foster’s call.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The home secretary is determined to put right the appalling injustices caused by the Windrush scandal.”
