{"id":399745,"date":"2025-09-05T10:34:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T10:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/399745\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T10:34:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T10:34:10","slug":"call-for-urgent-windrush-payouts-as-survivors-say-home-office-waiting-for-us-to-die-windrush-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/399745\/","title":{"rendered":"Call for urgent Windrush payouts as survivors say Home Office \u2018waiting for us to die\u2019 | Windrush scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Windrush commissioner has demanded \u201curgent reform\u201d of the compensation scheme after being told by survivors that \u201cthe Home Office<\/a> is waiting for us to die off\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a letter seen by the Guardian addressed to the migration and equalities minister, Seema Malhotra, and shared with the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, Rev Clive Foster says it is \u201cdeeply concerning\u201d that 66 people have died while waiting for compensation for the Windrush scandal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The scheme, launched in 2019<\/a>, has been criticised for delays and knockbacks<\/a>, with the Labour government repeatedly committing to ensure survivors are paid quickly.<\/p>\n

Foster, who became the Windrush commissioner in June, told Malhotra he had had \u201cpositive feedback\u201d about her personal commitment and that there had been recent improvements, but survivors \u201ccontinue to tell me about long waits, unclear outcomes and the emotional toll of navigating a process that feels opaque and unjust\u201d.<\/p>\n

Making a series of recommendations to the government, Foster said: \u201cGiven the age and health of many people affected by the scandal, reform is a matter of urgency. Justice must be delivered in their lifetimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cA phrase I\u2019ve heard repeatedly from community members is that \u2018the Home Office is waiting for us to die off\u2019. While I don\u2019t share this view, I believe it\u2019s important that you hear it directly as it reflects the challenge you face in building trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

Calling for better support for survivors, Foster recommends that the application process be reformed to make it \u201ctrauma-informed\u201d and accessible and says compensation should be made for pension and future earnings losses.<\/p>\n

He suggests the risk that people die before being compensated could be reduced by making partial payments to people awaiting a review, with cases prioritised by age and health. He also calls for performance indicators for the scheme, including average processing times and satisfaction levels, to be published.<\/p>\n

The government set up a \u00a31.5m \u201cadvocacy\u201d fund in April to support survivors, but campaigners are calling for legal aid.<\/p>\n

Amid concern about survivors being refused compensation or receiving desultory offers \u2013 before, in some cases, significant increases after legal advice<\/a> \u2013 Foster raises questions over the advocacy scheme\u2019s funding, recommending an independent review of \u201cnil awards, compensation uplifts and longstanding claims\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cApplicants I\u2019ve spoken to have described the application process as overwhelming and re-traumatising \u2026 from insensitive communication and the difficulty of obtaining proof of harm, to the emotional impact of receiving nil awards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foster also describes \u201cserious concerns\u201d raised in England and Wales about Windrush survivors who remain stranded abroad, an issue he has raised with Alicia Herbert, the new British high commissioner to Jamaica and the UK Labour African Network.<\/p>\n

skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n

Get the day\u2019s headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning<\/p>\n

Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n

Foster describes the \u201clack of support for individuals overseas\u201d as \u201cespecially troubling\u201d in light of the case of George Lee, who, until recently was stranded in Poland for 28 years <\/a>after being told he was not entitled to return to the UK and, since coming back, has faced \u201csignificant challenges in rebuilding his life\u201d.<\/p>\n

Foster also refers to Hannah Dankwa, an 81-year-old British citizen who was stranded in Ghana in ill health, with officials now understood to have decided to issue her with an emergency travel document, a case which he said had led to \u201ca lot of anger\u201d and concerns that Home Office culture had \u201cyet to change\u201d.<\/p>\n

In the letter, Foster says Cooper had pledged a rapid review of pension losses suffered by Windrush survivors but it had been \u201cnearly a year\u201d since the promise and requested an \u201curgent update on progress\u201d. The survivors had faced \u201clong-term economic hardship\u201d through the loss of pensions and being forced out of work, which had not been \u201cadequately reflected in current compensation awards\u201d.<\/p>\n

A government source said \u201cimmediate work\u201d was being commissioned on points raised by Foster, while a Home Office spokesperson said Foster\u2019s appointment was intended to \u201cdrive lasting change across government\u201d, with the department determined to right the wrongs of the scandal.<\/p>\n

They added: \u201cWe thank Rev Foster for his initial recommendations, many of which we are already implementing, and ministers will meet with him shortly to discuss further improvements to our schemes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Windrush commissioner has demanded \u201curgent reform\u201d of the compensation scheme after being told by survivors that \u201cthe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[12,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-399745","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115151245333881867","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}