Leading rights group publishes report detailing concerns with scheme set up for victims of the Windrush scandal
Human Rights Watch published an important report this week raising a number of serious concerns over the effectiveness of the Government's compensation scheme for people affected by the Windrush scandal.
Image credit: UK GovernmentThe report can be read online here.
For the report, Human Rights Watch conducted interviews with over a dozen people with firsthand knowledge of the process for claiming compensation.
Human Rights Watch finds that the scheme is unfit for its purpose and it fails to provide an effective remedy for the human rights harms suffered by victims of the Windrush scandal.
The report details its findings under the following five key points:
- The scheme lacks independence as it operates out of the Home Office.
- The application process is extremely complex, including a 44-page application form. This complexity is compounded by a lack of legal aid for claimants.
- The scheme suffers from arbitrary and inconsistent decision-making and delays by Home Office officials, including in relation to decisions about which level to categorise claims.
- The burden of proof on claimants is too high, which places an undue, and in certain circumstance insurmountable burden on claimants establishing the full extent of the losses they suffered as a result of being wrongly deemed to lack the UK citizenship or otherwise to have a right of residence in the UK.
- There is a lack of effective appeal rights (there is a two-tier appeal system with Tier-1 reviews taking place within the Home Office itself and Tier-2 reviews going to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs).
Claimants interviewed by Human Rights Watch described the process of applying for compensation as "stressful," "overwhelming," and "traumatic". Many of the claimants also said the Home Office lacks compassion and treats claimants with suspicion.
The report notes with regard to the lack of legal aid: "Both primary and close relative claimants said they thought that legal aid was necessary to access the scheme because of the complexity of the application process. Lawyers working pro bono with Windrush claimants made the same point. A 2021 report by JUSTICE on the need to reform the scheme said that Home Office support to claimants is inadequate."
According to the report, only 12.8 percent of the estimated 11,500 eligible claimants had been compensated under the scheme as of January 2023.
Nicola Burgess, who oversees the Windrush Legal Initiative at the Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit (GMIAU), took part in the research for the Human Rights Watch report.
In an article posted on its website on Monday, GMIAU details the case study of a woman who came to the UK from Jamaica as a teenager in the 1960s and found herself caught up in the Windrush scandal. While the woman received compensation thanks to the assistance of the Windrush Legal Initiative, GMIAU says the compensation scheme is bureaucratic and confusing, and applicants face unacceptably long delays.
Nicola Burgess commented:
"The Windrush Compensation Scheme has attracted considerable criticism: it is too narrow and prescriptive, it doesn't compensate for real-life losses, the decision making is subject to delay, can often be poor and there is a limited right of review with no access to an independent tribunal or court. Worst of all, it is run by the Home Office, the Government department which caused the injustice in the first place.
"These well-documented flaws have understandably prevented many from applying to the scheme. We know from talking to our clients, many of whom attempted to apply on their own, that without our help they would have given up on the process. Contrary to what has been said by the Government, legal assistance is required to navigate the scheme."
The Home Office response to Human Rights Watch's report can be read here. It says the Home Office remains steadfast in its commitment to everyone who was affected by the Windrush scandal.
Earlier this month, the Home Office media blog also published a factsheet on the Windrush compensation scheme.
The factsheet states: "We are determined to put right the terrible injustices faced by some people from the Windrush generation and the wider Commonwealth, which happened under successive governments. The Windrush Scheme ensures members of the Windrush generation can get the documentation they need to prove their right to be in the UK, free of charge. … On 06 April 2023, the Home Office published the latest set of data on the Scheme, which covers the period to the end of February 2023. The total amount paid or offered to claimants through the scheme has increased to over £68.27 million."