Windrush scandal victims to get new funding and commissioner, government announces

Victims of the Windrush scandal will receive new financial support to help with compensation claims, along with a specific Windrush Commissioner, the government announced on Wednesday.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said there will be a "fundamental reset" in the government's response to the scandal, announcing £1.5 million of new government funding to better support victims with compensation claims.

Alongside this, there will be a Windrush Commissioner appointed, and a specific Home Office Unit responsible for Windrush.

The Windrush scandal saw people who had legally arrived in the UK from the Carribean after 1948 threatened with deportation and detention. Those affected also lost access to housing, healthcare, bank accounts, and driving licences.

The government eventually acknowledged its mistakes and established a compensation scheme, but many people have been wrongly denied compensation, and more than 50 people have died before receiving any compensation.

Cooper said: "The Windrush scandal caused terrible pain and heartache for so many families in the Windrush generation and in wider Commonwealth communities. It is rightly recognised as a period of national shame.

"We are changing the government's approach – working more closely with victims, stakeholders, and communities, as well as those affected by all the department’s work, to ensure a scandal of this kind can never happen again and dignity can be restored to those so tragically affected."

A 2020 report put the blame on the Home Office for the scandal, saying it was “foreseeable and avoidable” and victims were let down by “systemic operational failings” at the department.

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The author of the Windrush Lessons Learned Review, Wendy Williams, described a “culture of disbelief and carelessness” at the department, making 30 recommendations including that Home Office ministers should admit serious harm was inflicted on people who are British.

A later government report also revealed that laws were enacted to decrease the number of people living in the UK "who did not have white skin".

The government have also been facing mounting pressure from Carribean countries to discuss reparations for slavery.

Starmer is at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa, where Carribean leaders are asking the UK to engage with discussions around reparatory justice for the UK's role in the slave trade.

But the PM says he's only focused on the "future" rather than the "past", and any conversation about reparations would lead to "very long endless discussions".

But one of his ministers signaled a shift in position on Thursday, saying: "We're not opposed to having a conversation about any of the issues Commonwealth heads of government want to raise".

The Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy did however reiterate that "our focus is not on reparations".

The prime minister said his focus at the summit is on other issues like climate, which he believes is among the most important concerns for the other countries.

"Whether it's the Caribbean or the Pacific Islands, climate is a very real problem right now", Starmer added.

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