Today, on Friday 21st June, ahead of Windrush Day celebrations in the UK, Action for Race Equality has released an important new publication: the Home Office Scandal: A Manifesto for Windrush Justice. This Manifesto outlines eight crucial Windrush Justice action areas for the UK’s next elected government.
The Manifesto for Windrush Justice calls for faster, fairer and more just systems to rebuild trust, repair harm, and heal the ‘unconscionable’ trauma inflicted upon the Windrush Generation and their descendants by the Home Office’s Windrush Scandal.
Developed in collaboration with grassroots advocacy groups under ARE’s three-year Windrush Justice Programme, the Manifesto also incorporates insights from a survey of 1,200 individuals conducted by Liverpool Advocates for Windrush, consultative parliamentary events held by Justice for Windrush Generations; key stakeholders such as lawyers, advocates and charities that work on the issue and the expertise of Windrush and Race Equality Campaigner, Patrick Vernon OBE. It was designed by Kareen Cox. 1
Time for change
ARE urges all major political parties and their representatives to commit to redesigning the ‘unwieldly and complex’ Windrush Schemes, originally set up for those impacted by the Scandal to apply for citizenship documentation and compensation.
These schemes need to be looked at anew, with a fresh commitment from leaders.
The Manifesto brings together calls made by many in the Windrush Justice space for a national programme of recognition and reconciliation, using Wendy Williams’s 2018 independent Windrush Lessons Learned Review as its foundation.
Jeremy Crook OBE, Chief Executive of ARE said:
The British people have seen far too many scandals that expose our own institutions and how they can abuse their power. In some cases, these institutions have ignored our laws including anti-discrimination laws, has caused deaths, and failed to take swift corrective action after the devastation they have wrought on ordinary people lives. The Windrush Scandal is one of these shameful and massive injustices.
“Through ARE’s grassroots Windrush Justice Programme I have been humbled to meet and listen to some of the survivors of the Home Office’s Windrush Scandal. These ordinary British citizens have had their whole lives turned upside down, their families broken up, lost jobs, and, in some cases, did not live long enough to be allowed return to the UK after going abroad. The survivors have been brave, resilient and have become formidable campaigners and advocates to help others and get justice. ARE stands with these courageous individuals and campaigners and urges the next Government to implement the actions in our important manifesto.”
Key action areas for the next government’s first 100 days:
- Remove the Windrush Compensation Scheme from the Home Office into a more neutral government department
- Fund legal representation to support claimants through the application process
- End the hostile environment policies
- Provide citizenship for all Windrush families
- Ensure fair payouts to reflect the true scale of the harm caused
- Conduct a Statutory Inquiry into the Home Office Scandal
- Implement all Wendy Williams’ Lessons Learned review recommendations
- Establish a Windrush covenant for Mental Health
Glenda Caesar, community campaigner and survivor of the Windrush Scandal, said:
With this important Windrush Manifesto launch, Windrush advocates and community leaders would like to remind all political parties that the Windrush Generation were invited to the UK to help rebuild Great Britain. They were proud to call themselves British. Remembering their vital contribution, we all ask the next government to end discriminatory legislation and unfair practices that foster hostility towards the Windrush Generation & their families. It’s time the Windrush Generation received full and rightful recognition as British Citizens, and real progress is made to rectify the harm done by the Scandal”
Patrick Vernon OBE, ARE Windrush Justice Programme Advisor, said:
Since the Home Windrush Scandal was brought to the public attention in 2018 the government has attempted to resolve outstanding issues around such as status, compensation and learning what went wrong. However, despite some modest changes, there are still fundamental issues which are outstanding. These have caused further re-traumatisation in affected communities and created a lack of faith in government’s ability to right the wrongs of the Scandal. The Windrush Generation contributed so much to Britain but the Home Office Scandal shows they are still treated as second-class citizens.
ARE’s Manifesto pulls together key concerns held by the Windrush Generation, their families and their advocates, with clear demands for change to help the future government resolve one of the biggest example of human rights abuses faced by British Citizens in this century.
We all now want to see a clear commitment and strong leadership that honours the survivors and their families, so they can move on with their lives.
A Call to Action:
ARE urges all political parties and representatives to commit to these vital reforms. The Home Office Scandal Manifesto is a call for justice, recognition, and reconciliation.
It is an opportunity for the next government to right historical wrongs and honour the legacy of the Windrush Generation.
#WindrushManifesto #Citizenship4Windrush #WindrushLegalAid
- We would like to thank the following groups for sharing their insights and contributing to the publication:
– Praxis
– United Legal Access
– Liverpool Advocates for Windrush
– Black Equity Organisation
– Mandala Community Services LTD
– Justice4Windrush
– Age UK
– Windrush Justice Clinic
– Nishkam Civic Association
– Goan Community Centre
– Sussex Racial Equality Action Project.
To find out more about the designer behind the Manifesto, visit Absolutely Kareen ↩︎
For media queries, please contact Senior Communications Officer, Payal Bhavsar.
For Windrush Justice Programme queries, please contact Windrush Policy Lead, Kimberly McIntosh
Background to the Home Office’s Windrush Scandal
The Windrush Scandal came to light in 2018, revealing that changes to immigration and citizenship law since 1948 left predominantly, but not exclusively, Caribbean elders and their families unable to demonstrate their right to live and work in the UK.
Consequently, many lost their jobs and homes, were stranded abroad away from family and friends, and denied access to their full pensions and essential medical treatment. They have suffered damages to earnings, livelihoods, and experienced significant hardships with their mental and physical health.
The Windrush Compensation Scheme, intended to address these harms, has been called unfit for purpose by various human rights, race equality and community groups working with ARE because of its complexity, delays in processing and inadequacies. Many people have sadly died waiting to hear back about their claims.
Since its establishment in April, the Windrush Compensation Scheme has, as of March 2024, disbursed £85.86 million across 2,382 claims. Additionally, the Windrush Scheme has provided citizenship documents for over 16,800 people. However, ARE estimates that a minimum of 57,500 people and their children could still benefit from the Scheme.
The impact of the Home Office’s Windrush Scandal persists to this day through the Hostile Environment Policy.