Sign the open letter by Justice 4 Windrush on the Windrush Compensation Scheme

Sign the open letter here

The fight for justice for the Windrush Generation continues. Justice for Windrush have launched an open letter and campaign video, calling for a just and accessible Windrush compensation scheme and we support this campaign fully.

 It will be eight years in 2024,  since I started campaigning against what became known as the Windrush Scandal and wrote about it  here in The Guardian - How Can 50 People be Snatched?

It's a disgrace that the Windrush Generation, families and our communities are still fighting for justice. When I wrote about it in 2016, it was not the start of the so called 'scandal', many victims had already been experiencing the horror of being detained, deported or barred from returning to the UK, for years or even decades by then. 

The Windrush Compensation Scheme was launched almost five years ago now, so you would expect that most people  would have received the compensation they are entitled to for the pain, loss and trauma they were put through.  Instead, the vast majority have received nothing  and in the few cases where the Home Office has made an offer, it has been woefully low and inadequate, to compensate the multiple injuries and losses experienced, meaning that people have had no choice but to appeal. A freedom of information request exposed that only 1% of people had received any compensation on appeal, in 2021.

We are supporting the open letter launched to start this year, by Justice 4 Windrush.  The letter exposes the many failures of the Windrush Compensation Scheme,  with only 13% of those eligible to receive compensation, receiving any funds, since the scheme was launched, to date. Many of those eligible, are elders and sadly too have passed, due to their age, without ever receiving any compensation. This is an abuse of human rights.

Alongside other demands, the letter calls for compensation for all eligible, to be paid swiftly, to stop deportations, as this petition calls for, for legal aid for those claiming compensation and crucially  it calls for an independent and neutral body to oversee the Windrush Compensation Scheme, removing it from the Home Office.

There are so many parallels with the Windrush Scandal and the Post Office Scandal. 91 year old disgusted with compensation delay and like Windrush, it has been heartbreaking to hear the stories of the Post Office victims. The human costs to both Windrush and Post Office scandal victims are horrific.  Our full solidarity goes to the Post Office scandal victims.

Please sign the open letter   and also watch the powerful  Official Campaign Film  which features survivors of the Windrush Scandal and their families alongside celebrities and public figures,  including Baroness Doreen Lawrence, actors, Adrian Lester and Eddie Marsan, TV presenter Jay Blades and musicians Don Letts and Leee John.

Please support this important campaign, Justice 4 Windrush have asked that you sign the letter,  watch the video, follow them on X and share with your networks.

 

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Zita Holbourne

Co-founder and National Chair BARAC UK