A HOST of well-known celebrities have launched a new campaign to put pressure on the Home Office to speed up its payment of compensation to people affected by the Windrush scandal.  

Baroness Doreen Lawrence, actor and campaigner Colin McFarlane singer, rapper and producer AJ Tracey songwriter and campaigner Annie Lennox, along with leading charities and campaigners have today launched #Justice4Windrush calling for swift and full government compensation for the Windrush generation.

An open letter signed by celebrity supporters has been issued to both Prime Minister Rishi Sunak MP and Sir Keir Starmer MP urging the government to speed up  compensation for victims of the recent Windrush scandal.

Issues

The letter underscores ongoing issues with the 2019 compensation scheme which was aimed at addressing wrongful detentions, deportations, job losses, homelessness, and denial of essential services. Many, despite lawful residence since the 1950s and 1960s, were incorrectly labelled as illegal immigrants by the Home Office.

The campaign group is also calling for legal aid to be granted to those who are hoping to make claims against the Home Office.

More than 40 Windrush victims had died while waiting for compensation and Justice4Windrush campaigners say the Home Office’s recent abandonment ofWindrush Transformation Team in Jube 2023 has only added to the anguish felt by families and individuals affected by the Windrush scandal.

The compensation scheme’s architect, attorney Martin Forde,  joined the campaign after expressing frustration with how the compensation scheme has been managed.

Victims

He said:“The Windrush Compensation Scheme has left many victims in a state of limbo. We have heard stories of individuals being wrongly denied tens of thousands of pounds’ worth of compensation, and of families whose lives have been torn apart while they await an outcome. This is unacceptable and we are calling on the Home Office to move quickly to deliver compensation for eligible Windrushees.” 

The open letter highlights the fact that after the Windrush Compensation Scheme was launched in 2019  an estimated 15,000 were eligible, however only 13.8% received compensation by January 2024. As of April 2023, 16% waited over a year for results, 7.5% of those eligible waited over 18 months.

The denial of legal aid by the Home Office has also complicated the justice process, and a mere £73.58 million of the allocated £200-500 million has reached victims.

 To rectify this, the #Justice4Windrush campaign is calling on the government to: 

1. Make full and swift compensation for Windrush victims a Home Office priority. Reinstating the Transformation Team and Windrush Working Group is crucial.
2. To ensure its credibility with claimants, remove the Windrush Compensation Scheme from the Home Office and identify or create an independent and neutral body or organisation to operate it and make appeal decisions.
3. Direct the Home Office to ensure more transparent, independent oversight over its administration of the scheme, including quarterly, detailed public reports on the scheme’s operation by the independent assessor. 
4. Ensure that legal aid is guaranteed to all eligible claimants. 
5. Lower the burden of proof for claims and compensate fully for losses and impact on life, regardless of the complexity. 
6. Stop deportations. Trust is gone. So many have been deported in error. Already traumatised victims need to feel safe to come forward. 
7. End the decades long history of covert racist immigration laws and bring an end to the Hostile Environment immigration policy 
8. Pledge full compensation to Windrush victims as part of its forthcoming general election manifesto.

Commenting on the campaign, actor Colin McFarlanes aid: “The Home Office scandal that impacted the Windrush generation is not over. Yet 90% of the country think it is. In 2022, a leaked internal report commissioned by the Home Office revealed that, ‘during the period 1950-1981, every single piece of immigration or citizenship legislation was designed at least in part to reduce the number of people with black or brown skin who were permitted to live and work in the UK’. 

‘Woeful’

He added: “2012’s hostile environment policy has exacerbated this institutional racism, resulting in over 15,000 victims and rising. The woeful 2019 compensation scheme has added insult to injury and merely prolonged the trauma and is yet another illustration of decades long discrimination by the Home Office against migrants of colour. We need justice for the Windrush generation, now.” 

Drawing support from campaigners and celebrities across the entertainment industries, such as  Eddie Marsan, Jazmine Flowers, Jay Blades, Hannah Waddingham and Adrian Lester, and with the participation of Windrushees, the #Justice4Windrush campaign has a number of key activation points:

The video release later this month of an exclusive re-recording of ‘Why?’ by Annie Lennox, featuring celebrity campaign supporters

The launch of a film entitled ‘The Home Office Scandal’, on the life of Windrush victim and World War Two Veteran Flt Sgt Peter Brown

A social media campaign fronted by high-profile supporters promoting ‘Why?’ and featuring the #Justice4Windrush banner 

Backed by campaigners and celebrities such as Eddie Marsan, Jazmine Flowers, Jay Blades, Hannah Waddingham, and Adrian Lester, the #Justice4Windrush campaign features  a range of upcoming events including an exclusive re-recording of the single ‘Why?’ by Annie Lennox, a film on Windrush victim Peter Brown, and a social media campaign promoting ‘Why?’ and featuring the #Justice4Windrush banner 

Lennox said: “With #Justice4Windrush, we want to put the issue of Windrush front and centre, to ensure that the Windrush generation are seen, heard and healed. Bigotry, hatred and racism have pervaded the British establishment for too long. We need to put an immediate stop to the tragic injustice of this Home Office Scandal. Windrush victims deserve nothing less.”