Did ‘activist lawyers’ tell Home Office its Windrush compensation scheme was a disaster, too?
The Empire Windrush brought many people to the UK to help rebuild the country after World War II. If it had still been in service a couple of years ago, the Tories would have been trying to use it to deport them all again.
How unfortunate for the Home Office that it should fall foul of the lawyers twice in one day.
Or is it perhaps a sign of the Johnson government’s disregard for the law?
The Tory government’s much-maligned Windrush Compensation Scheme has been trashed by – one would expect – activist lawyers from no fewer than nine separate firms.
They say it is failing to provide access to justice – a claim that can only have gained validity after it was revealed that the HO tried to rush-deport 23 people illegally, because it had not allowed them their right to appeal.
The – activist – lawyers also said that while the Windrush scandal traumatised its victims, the compensation scheme is only worsening the trauma.
The HO has already confirmed that at least five people who applied for compensation died before receiving it.
Lawyers say they have experienced significant delays and difficulties filing claims for clients who were wrongly classified as illegal immigrants and lost their jobs, housing or pensions as a result.
The letter says many applications appear to be “appear to be lost in a kind of bureaucratic limbo”, with some people forced to wait more than a year for decisions.
Look at this:
The decision to put the Home Office in charge of processing of claims was particularly problematic, they write, given the criticisms of the department made in Wendy Williams’ official inquiry into the scandal. Williams’ report identified a “culture of disbelief and carelessness” within the Home Office and “institutional ignorance and thoughtlessness towards the issue of race”.
And now let’s all remember that the Home Office is carrying out its own inquiry into the death of refugee Mercy Baguma. What chance does justice have in a “culture of disbelief and carelessness” with “institutional ignorance and thoughtlessness towards the issue of race”?
Coincidentally (or is it?) yesterday HO permanent secretary Matthew Rycroft announced:
The @ukhomeoffice is seeking an Independent Person to oversee the operation of the #Windrush Compensation Scheme. For more information about the role + to apply: https://t.co/vUyu41pK1w
— Matthew Rycroft (@MatthewRycroft1) August 26, 2020
Perhaps inevitably, this was one of the responses:
https://twitter.com/DecNagle/status/1299017705723486208
Source: Windrush payout scheme not fit for purpose, say lawyers | Windrush scandal | The Guardian
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