DIANE ABBOTT has called for the Windrush compensation scheme to be “taken away” from The Home Office following the publication of figures that showed many are receiving less than they are owed.
The Labour MP told the BBC she felt “very strongly that the scheme should be taken away from the Home Office.”
“The Home Office itself estimated that 11,500 people were eligible for compensation.
“But only 1,867 have actually tried to claim.
“The whole hostile environment stuff means that people just don’t trust the Home Office,” she added.
Following widespread criticism, in December 2020, Home Secretary Priti Patel announced reforms to the scheme after an investigation by the BBC’s Westminster Hour programme discovered that at least nine people had died before receiving their payments.
The minimum payment awarded to victims was raised from £250 to £10,000 and the maximum from £10,000 to £100,000.
It was also announced that the scheme would be fast-tracked.
However, in January this year, victims of the Windrush scandal penned an open letter, saying they had “no confidence” in Priti Patel, and asking for an independent, external body to be put in charge of compensation.
They said the changes had not been properly devised, and that caseworkers were unaware of them.
Windrush campaigners added that no one they knew had received their expected payments.
“This is the same dynamic we have faced from the beginning,” they explained.
The Windrush compensation scheme was launched in April 2019 to assist those who arrived in Britain as part of the Windrush generation from the Caribbean and wrongly faced deportation.
Those affected are supposed to receive payments for loss of earnings, periods of detention and the impact that the scandal has had on their lives.
A spokesperson from the Home Office said: “The home secretary has apologised for the appalling treatment suffered by the Windrush generation. She and officials will continue to work with, listen and act to help those who suffered terrible injustices as a result of this appalling scandal.”
The Voice has reached out to Dianne Abbott’s office for comment.
Comments Form
1 Comment
Policing the home office is the issue. They should not be the ones left in charge of who should or should not get compensation given their track record of hostility spanning 15 years against anyone with a Mixed, Asian or Black background. The compensation scheme should also be renamed from Windrush as not all those affected came from the West Indies alone but many from all of the commonwealth nations were affected. The blame also lays with Liam Bryne and Phil Woolas who started this off in the first place and then refined by the Tories