The British government’s scheme to compensate victims of the “Windrush” scandal is failing, a rights group said on today, more than five years after the wrongful deportation and detention of Britons of Caribbean origin was exposed.  

After living and working in the UK for decades, thousands of people who came to the UK between 1948 and the early 1970s were asked to meet impossible government requirements to prove their right to live in Britain.  

Many lost jobs, homes, health care, pensions, and benefits because they could not produce paperwork while others were taken into custody or forced to return to the Caribbean.  

Former prime minister Theresa May personally apologised to Caribbean leaders on April 17, 2018, and in 2019 a compensation scheme was set up.  

But Human Rights Watch said the scheme set up to support victims was “failing and violating their right to an effective remedy for human rights abuses they suffered at the hands of the Home Office (interior ministry)”.  

“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,” added Almaz Teffera, a HRW researcher on racism in Europe.  

“The UK government should hand over the compensation scheme to an independent body that guarantees each claimant a fair and independent hearing,” Teffera said.  

‘Hostile environment’ 

Known as the “Windrush” generation – after the Empire Windrush, one of the ships that brought them to the UK from the West Indies – they were invited to work in Britain due to shortages of key workers following World War II.  

They received indefinite leave to remain, but many who did not apply for passports found themselves targeted by immigration laws intended to create a “hostile environment” for illegal immigrants.  

The hardline policy was pioneered after the right-wing Conservative Party retook power in 2010 when May was interior minister.  

As a result, many found themselves accused of being illegal immigrants.  

It’s not the first time the compensation scheme has been condemned.  

In 2021, British MPs slammed what they said were “truly shocking” delays in compensation.  

A cross-party home affairs committee said 23 claimants had died without receiving a penny and recommended that the Home Office should be stripped of involvement in handling the claims.  

The MPs said claimants faced a “daunting” application process and “unreasonable requests for evidence” and were “left in limbo in the midst of inordinate delays”.  

HRW said as of January, only 12.8% of the estimated 11,500 eligible claimants had been compensated.   

It said the scheme should be independent and provide legal aid to claimants to help them navigate the “complex application process”.  

A UN group on people of African descent said earlier this year the Windrush generation had suffered “irreparable harm” and that redress was “imperative”. – AFP, April 17, 2023.