Windrush lawyer reacts to government fund aimed at supporting community groups working on Windrush compensation applications

The fund, announced in October, will give grants to organisations providing advocates for those applying over the next three years to the compensation scheme, which has been criticised by many as complicated and too slow. 

Advocates will help applicants gather supporting evidence, provide signposting to additional services, and create a trusted environment so no victim has to face the system by themselves. 

MP and Minister for Migration and Citizenship Seema Malhotra said the advocacy support was aimed at “breaking down barriers” and making sure victims “have a voice” during the compensation process. 

Jacqueline McKenzie, head of the immigration and asylum team at Leigh Day, welcomed the decision but said it fell short of addressing issues with some victims of the scandal being able to access justice. 

Jacqueline McKenzie said: 

“Windrush claims are legal claims which means the people affected usually need to engage lawyers, especially because the Home Office’s Windrush team is still making errors when people apply to the scheme for compensation. 

“Many claims that the Home Office says are not viable are in fact recognised to be worth six figures when a lawyer who understands the compensation scheme is able to examine it. 

“But a lot of work is involved in being able to establish the viability of cases: the Home Office requires a lot of evidence, its process is unwieldly, it does not always apply the guidance correctly and many claims require an understanding of the immigration law. 

“The government needs to make a fund available to victims to be able to work with lawyers who can assist them with their claims and appeals against decisions, or pay their legal fees.” 

The Windrush Scandal first came to the public's attention in 2017, as it emerged thousands of people had been denied their legal rights and forced into crisis because they were unable to prove their right to live in the UK.    

The group of people affected became known as the Windrush Generation, named after HMT Empire Windrush, which arrived in the UK in 1948 bringing hundreds of passengers from Jamaica, travelling to help re-build post-war Britain. 

Jacqui spent much of the pandemic providing training for the members of the Windrush National Organisation, and other community organisations, and wrote a paper for the Paul Hamlyn Foundation which led to the creation of £1.5 million fund to raise capacity in Windrush campaign groups – a fund now managed by Action for Racial Equality. 

But for claims that are not straightforward, which is most of them, and that therefore require significant legal work, victims still face having fees being taken from their compensation awards if they use lawyers.