Home Affairs Select Committee

• The mandate prepared by the Civil Liberties and Women’s Rights committees includes a consent-based definition of rape, tougher rules on cyber violence, and better support for victims.
• Parliament’s plenary approved the report without a vote, in line with its rules of procedure.
• Next steps
  Parliament will start negotiations with Council on Thursday.
• Member states agreed on their position on 9 June.

• In announcing the scheme, then home secretary Amber Rudd apologised for her government’s appalling treatment of the Windrush generation.
• The UK government set up the Windrush compensation scheme in 2019, to allow victims of the Windrush scandal to claim compensation for any losses suffered as a result of being denied the right to live in the UK.
• [The scheme] is failing and violating the rights of many to an effective remedy of human rights abuses suffered.
• My research compares the Windrush compensation scheme with other such schemes in a bid to gauge its effectiveness.

A humiliating process

• Vincent McBean’s British citizenship was only recognised through the Windrush scheme in 2019, and his brother’s was not recognised until July 2022.
• As Vincent puts it:
  I have been forcibly separated from my children for many years and watched my brother suffer.
• There were points he had no carers, so I had to do everything for him, which also impacted my health.
• If you can imagine, I fought for England – [yet] I was treated like a second-class citizen.

A flawed system

• To Vincent’s mind, it is too complicated and bureaucratic, designed to stop people claiming compensation.
• In April 2023, for example, Human Rights Watch reported that victims were being told letters from local councils demonstrating periods of homelessness were not deemed sufficient.
• The fraught nature of this initial application process is only compounded by the ineffectiveness and lack of independence of the appeals system.
• Instead, applicants may challenge the amount of compensation awarded or a decision that they are ineligible by seeking a review.

Insufficient support

• Instead of providing legal support to victims, the government funds a third-party training provider, We Are Digital.
• However, it nonetheless purports to assist claimants in completing the application form with a maximum of three hours support – assistance that a report by Justice characterised as “of limited value”.
• Experienced lawyers, in their evidence to the Home Affairs Committee, have reported spending an average of 45 hours on Windrush compensation claims.
• The compensation scheme thus perpetuates the heavy evidential burden and culture of disbelief that has been emblematic of the hostile environment policy.
• The Home Office has acknowledged that distrust in the government is one reason for the low uptake in the scheme.

• LONDON, June 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Four years on, and with Windrush survivors still experiencing barriers to compensation, more legal support is available.
• On 22 June, to mark the annual Windrush Day, the Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit (GMIAU) is raising awareness of the free legal support available to help more than 11,000 survivors of the Windrush scandal.
• Following the launch of the Windrush Compensation Scheme in April 2019, only 7% of Windrush survivors have been compensated for the hardships and discrimination they unlawfully suffered.
• Dechert partner Giles Belsey said, "We are delighted to be working with the GMIAU and our partner law firms to support Windrush claimants.

• Launching the inquiry, Chair of the Home Affairs Committee, Yvette Cooper MP said:
  Its very important that all of our public services are prepared for coronavirus.
• On 3 March, the UK Government, together with devolved administrations, published the Coronavirus action plan .
• Covid-19 has already affected the work of the Home Office and its associated bodies.
• Privately-run Home Office functions will also require business continuity plans to be in place to safeguard vulnerable people.