The Windrush scandal had its origins in laws that were specifically designed to strip Black and Asian people of their rights to live in the UK, according to a new report. The Conservative government refused to publish the report in 2022 but, following a decision by a tribunal judge last year, the Labour administration has published it in full.

The report, The Historical Roots Of The Windrush Scandal, concludes that the scandal was the culmination of three decades of racist immigration laws designed to reduce the UK’s non-white population and disenfranchise Black people.

​It highlights that the “deep-rooted racism of the Windrush scandal” is a result of government policies designed to reduce the proportion of people living in the United Kingdom who did not have white skin – specifically major immigration legislation in 1962, 1968 and 1971. “Every single piece of immigration or citizenship legislation was designed at least in part to reduce the number of people with Black or brown skin who were permitted to live and work in the UK,” the report reads.

Read more here. Read the report here.

Six years into the Home Office’s Windrush scandal a significant backlog still exists in the processing of cases and payment of compensation claims. The government’s own estimates suggest more than 50,000 people may be affected. Ahead of this year's Windrush Day celebrations campaigners are demanding citizenship to be granted to all families affected by the scandal within the first 100 days of the new government. A coalition of anti-racism charities and groups has unveiled a “Home Office scandal manifesto”, outlining key demands for new ministers after the general election on July 4th.

Glenda Caesar, community campaigner and survivor of the Windrush scandal, said: “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. 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 and their families.”

The Windrush Compensation Scheme was created in 2019 but human rights, race equality, and community groups have criticised it as unfit for purpose due to its complexity and delays. As of March 2024, the scheme has disbursed £85.86m across 2,382 claims – out of a predicted 15,000 eligible claims – and provided citizenship documents to more than 16,800 individuals.

​Read more here.

Photo by Steve Eason.

New research by pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb and charity Shine Cancer Support shows that people from minority ethnic backgrounds face an average of a year’s delay between first noticing symptoms and receiving a diagnosis of cancer – twice as long as white people. Ceinwen Giles, co-CEO of Shine Cancer Support said: “In a year that’s revealed that the UK’s cancer survival lags behind comparable countries, I am saddened but unsurprised that people from minority ethnic groups face additional hurdles that delay their diagnosis.”

The data showed that people from ethnic groups were more likely to attribute their symptoms to other conditions (51% compared to 31%) and not take their symptoms seriously (34% against 21%), compared with white people and were more concerned about wasting NHS time and resources (52% compared to 42%) or their GP's time (32% against 18%).

For some an added complication was being caught up in the Windrush scandal. Simon Greene's compromised eligibility to live and receive free treatment in the UK meant he had to find £42,000 to pay for his cancer treatment. He is still awaiting compensation from the Home Office.

Read more in this article from The Independent. Read the research report '1,000 voices, not 1: A report highlighting differences in cancer care in the UK' here.

Freedom of Information data obtained by Labour MP Kate Osamor has revealed that only 1 per cent of payout reviews under the Windrush compensation appeals process have been successful. Out of 3,479 claimant appeals in 2021, only 42 resulted in a settlement. The MP has said Windrush claimants are being told to “take it or leave it” when they receive offers. “The Home Office perpetrated the Windrush Scandal. Now they are deciding how much compensation should be awarded to their victims. The result is unsurprising – consistent and poor-quality decision making resulting in insultingly small offers of compensation.”

Read more and some individual claimant's stories here.
​Read here about the Home Office's refusal to speed up the case of a woman with terminal cancer.

Rev Guy Hewitt will take up this post in November and lead the Church’s Racial Justice Unit. It follows a recommendation from the unit in its April 2021 report 'From Lament to Action'. The announcement follows the resignation of the Archbishops' Adviser for Minority Ethnic Anglican Concerns, Dr Sanjee Perera who hinted a potential tension over her role's continued place alongside the Archbishops' Racial Justice Commission.

Ordained in 2005 Rev Hewitt has a background in social policy and development, working internationally on issues of marginalisation, economic enfranchisement, racial justice, youth empowerment, and gender equality. He is a staunch critic of the UK government over its handling of the Windrush scandal, saying in 2018: “The UK is still not at ease with race. Colonial history is still not taught here. The modern global Britain, with a multicultural society, is still an aspiration rather than a reality.”

Chair of MJR Rev Alton Bell commented: "Although MJR welcomes the appointment of the CofE's first racial justice director, we hope this is not just another PR exercise analogous to the shuffling of the deckchairs on the Titanic. We want to see concrete evidence of change. We want the CofE to take the lead in reparatory justice practices, such as: changing the way slavery is taught in schools, advocating for a national memorial to those who were enslaved, and returning stolen artifacts. We wholeheartedly welcome the new racial justice director if this new position is a catalyst for systemic change".

​Read more here.

The Queen has praised the Windrush "pioneers" for their "profound contribution" to British life as a statue to them was unveiled on Windrush Day at Waterloo Station. The Government funded £1 statue, designed by Basil Watson, depicts a man, woman and child standing on top of suitcases and pays tribute to the thousands of people who arrived in the UK from Caribbean countries between 1948 and 1971.

However, there has been negative reaction to the statue. Activist Prof Gus John, in an open letter to Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove, declining an invitation to the unveiling described it as "a monument to unforgivable political illiteracy and an entrenched colonial mindset. The entire Windrush narrative distorts the history of Caribbean engagement with Britain and of Britain's relentless efforts to keep us out".

Windrush survivor and campaigner Glenda Caesar said: “I knew nothing about the unveiling and wasn’t asked to attend. I can understand that it represents the people who came in via that station in 1948 but this does nothing to help the people, like myself, who suffered under this scandal and are labelled as the Windrush generation."

Jacqueline McKenzie, partner and head of immigration at Leigh Day, a firm representing more than 300 people affected by the Windrush scandal, decided not to participate in the Waterloo statue unveiling “whilst justice is being denied to thousands of victims.”

Read more here and here.

A Home Office commissioned paper that officials have repeatedly tried to suppress since it came out in 2021 concludes that the origins of the Windrush scandal lay in 30 years of racist immigration legislation designed to reduce the UK’s non-white population. The 52-page paper, which has been leaked to The Guardian states that “during the period 1950-1981, every single piece of immigration or citizenship legislation was designed at least in part to reduce the number of people with black or brown skin who were permitted to live and work in the UK”. 

​The report, named 'The Historical Roots of the Windrush Scandal', was commissioned by the Home Office as part of a commitment to educating civil servants about the causes of the Windrush scandal, which saw thousands of people wrongly classified as illegal immigrants by the department. Stating that “the British Empire depended on racist ideology in order to function” the report asserts that in the 1950s, British officials shared a “basic assumption that ‘coloured immigrants’, as they were referred to, were not good for British society.”

While circulated internally, a year on the report remains unpublished and a Freedom of Information request by The Guardian was turned down by the Home Office; a refusal described as "shameful" by Simon Woolley, the former CEO of Operation Black Vote and chair of the No 10 race disparity unit. “The government is hellbent in its denial of the systemic nature of racial inequality and in this climate historical facts have become uncomfortable truths that need to be hidden.” Read the full Guardian article here.

​Image by Steve Eason.

In our previous post we reported a main BBC news item on the Government Windrush Compensation Scheme, where a group of MPs were asking for it to be removed from the Home Office due to the low rate of payouts made so far. We have since been contacted by a member of the Windrush Cross Government Working Group who told us the data used by the MPs was "dated" and therefore now inaccurate.

The latest situation includes:

• 42% of those who have applied for compensation have received a final offer, while 29% of compensation claims have received a payment. 
• The 5% figure some news outlets have used is based on the number of payments made against old estimates on the number of people eligible for compensation (which estimated there were around 15,000 people eligible), which we have since revised (to 4,000-6,000) following analysis and insight from extensive outreach and engagement with people affected. 
• Since the changes the group made to the Scheme last December, the amount of compensation paid has risen from less than £3 million to over £31.6 million, with a further £5.6 million having been offered. 
• There is no cap on the amount of compensation that can be paid out and the group will ensure that members of the Windrush generation receive every penny of compensation that they are entitled to
• Over 13,800 people have been issued with documentation confirming their status or British citizenship.

  He went on to say: "The Working Group is a critical friend of the Home Office and Government and my main interest is accuracy of information to counter any attempts to either talk up or talk down the actual state of play. Whatever people make of the statistics the government put out – and part of my group’s work is to provide robust challenge internally – the latest information on the Compensation Scheme is available here". 

The main story on BBC News today was the continuing delay on compensation payments to victims of the Windrush scandal. The scandal saw thousands of UK residents - most of whom were originally from the Caribbean from back in the 40's, 50's and 60's, wrongly classed as illegal immigrants. The compensation scheme was started in 2019, but delays have meant that by September 2021, only one in five of an estimated 15,000 eligible claimants had applied to the scheme and only a quarter of these had received compensation. 23 have died before receiving compensation. Now a cross-party group of MPs have asked that the scheme be taken from the Home Office and recommended an "independent organisation" should be handed responsibility for running the scheme, to "increase trust and encourage more applicants". Read the full story and listen to interviews here.

Founding trustee of MJR Clifford Hill has written an article for Black History Month in Prophecy Today on his early ministry in London amongst the original Windrush generation, going back to 1952, just 4 years after the ship arrived.  Unlike many British churches, Clifford and Monica offered a welcome and support, so much so that "my church house became known locally as the ‘Jamaican Labour Exchange’ as so many came for help and friendly advice." This was a "massive indictment of British churches that were unable, or unwilling, to offer simple love and hospitality to the newcomers who all came from Christian backgrounds and were desperately in need of friendship and help." In a fascinating insight into the early years in the UK of these migrants, Clifford writes about his experiences and the growth of the all-black churches, showing that they did not lose their Christian faith. Download and read the full article here (with kind permission of Prophecy Today.)