JUST ONE in four people who have made claims to the Windrush compensation scheme have been given payouts as they continue to face lengthy delays five years on, according to new figures.

Thousands of the generation were invited as British citizens in the old empire to solve Britain’s post-war labour shortages.

They were plunged into the Windrush scandal as the Home Office treated them like ‘illegal immigrants’ even though many had lived in Britain for decades.

Many of them faced being wrongly deported to their countries in the Caribbean since the scandal broke in 2018 following years of “racist immigration laws” stacked against them and internal errors by the Home Office.

The government first accepted 15,000 compensation claims, but less than 7% of these have since been paid leaving victims and campaigners to cast even more doubt on the long-winded process. 

The Windrush Lessons Learned Report update, headed up by Wendy Williams and published in March this year, criticised the Home Office for overstating its progress since the scandal. 

She warned that the department was at a “tipping point” towards a repeat crisis if the “cultural changes required” were not implemented. 

Jolyon Maugham, director of Good Law Project, told The Voice: “The Windrush Scandal is yet another example of this government lurching between ignorance, denial and confusion.

“There are clear lessons that should have been learned and the Home Office needs to fully own the impact of its policies and decisions and pay compensation to the people whose lives have been affect by a deeply flawed and discriminatory immigration system.”

According to Home Office figures in March, a total of more than £37 million has been paid out for 993 submitted claims, but 3,618 people still remain without any form of compensation. Around 285 people have died before receiving the pay-outs from their claims.