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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/apr/09/mps-call-for-review-of-windrush-scandal-compensation-scheme
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| MPs call for review of 'derisory' Windrush compensation scheme | MPs call for review of 'derisory' Windrush compensation scheme |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| MPs have called on the government to review the Windrush compensation scheme, describing the sums to be paid for individual losses as “derisory” and “insultingly low” and requesting the caps on certain categories of loss be scrapped. | |
| However, the barrister who devised the scheme said many of the concerns were based on a misunderstanding of how compensation would be calculated, and urged those affected not to seek the advice of no-win no-fee lawyers. | |
| David Lammy, the MP for Tottenham, said he was particularly concerned by the proposed payment of £10,000 to people who had been wrongly deported. | |
| Windrush: minister apologises after 500 private email addresses shared | Windrush: minister apologises after 500 private email addresses shared |
| “£10,000 is less than one secretary of state’s gross salary per month. Is this all that you’ve lost if you been locked up, if you’ve been deported? Is this all it costs someone if they’ve been denied access to their family, friends, for decades from their own country?” he asked the immigration minister, Caroline Nokes, in an urgent question on the compensation scheme in the House of Commons. | |
| “Is this the price that you put on my constituents being deported for no wrongdoing? Is this how this government values the lives of black Britons? | |
| “You promised to do right by the Windrush generation but quite rightly many of them think they have been misled. Let this be the final betrayal of the Windrush generation. Scrap the caps and compensate them properly for the wrongs that have been done to them.” | |
| His concerns were echoed by the shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott, who said: “With this derisory compensation scheme, the Windrush generation has been let down again.” | His concerns were echoed by the shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott, who said: “With this derisory compensation scheme, the Windrush generation has been let down again.” |
| She said the scheme “compares very unfavourably with the criminal injuries compensation scheme”. Abbott also expressed frustration that shadow ministers were not given sight of the detailed rules and tariffs before the scheme’s announcement last week, when the home secretary, Sajid Javid, told parliament there was to be no total cap on the scheme. | |
| Windrush 'compensation' risks adds serious insult to serious injury | Sally Daghlian | Windrush 'compensation' risks adds serious insult to serious injury | Sally Daghlian |
| Describing the scheme as “shoddy, unfair and unjust”, she said a flat payment of £500 for people denied access to higher education was “pitiful” when research showed the value of higher education over a lifetime amounts to tens of thousands of pounds. | Describing the scheme as “shoddy, unfair and unjust”, she said a flat payment of £500 for people denied access to higher education was “pitiful” when research showed the value of higher education over a lifetime amounts to tens of thousands of pounds. |
| However, Martin Forde, the barrister who spent 11 months devising the scheme, said: “It is completely inaccurate to suggest that somebody who was wrongfully deported would only receive £10,000 – unless they were returned to the UK on the same day that they were deported. | |
| “If they were in employment and the deportation cause them to lose access to employment, they would get their loss of earnings for the whole period that they were out of the country.” | |
| If someone had been earning £15,000 a year, and they were out of the country for 10 years, they would be eligible for a payment of £150,000 for loss of earnings, as well as the £10,000 for the deportation, as well as an uncapped figure for the impact on family life, he said. | |
| If family members in the UK sent money to support them while they were away, that money could also be reclaimed. Equally, if close family members suffered distress and anxiety they also would also have a claim for compensation, he said. | |
| “I am anxious that people affected are not driven into the arms of lawyers who may wish to take advantage of their situation by offering their service for a percentage of the compensation awarded,” he said. | |
| Nokes said it was important to see the individual sums cited in the rules as part of a package of compensation, and said they did not represent the total sum likely to be paid. The impact on people’s lives overall would also be taken into account and compensated for. | |
| “It is really important that we see the impact on people’s daily life and their mental health reflected, and I believe that this scheme enables us to do that,” she said. “We are still ashamed of what happened and desperately trying to put things right by this scheme.” | “It is really important that we see the impact on people’s daily life and their mental health reflected, and I believe that this scheme enables us to do that,” she said. “We are still ashamed of what happened and desperately trying to put things right by this scheme.” |
| Windrush victims’ compensation could prove ‘peanuts’, say lawyers | Windrush victims’ compensation could prove ‘peanuts’, say lawyers |
| Nokes said a £10,000 payment for deportation was a higher and “a more appropriate figure” than the £1,000 available under existing schemes for wrongful deportation. “The Home Office is determined to help claimants establish the actual level of loss,” she said. | Nokes said a £10,000 payment for deportation was a higher and “a more appropriate figure” than the £1,000 available under existing schemes for wrongful deportation. “The Home Office is determined to help claimants establish the actual level of loss,” she said. |
| She also said there was a misunderstanding about how the scheme worked, stressing there were two routes to getting compensation – those who were able to provide documentary evidence of a loss incurred (legal bills, for example) would be reimbursed the full amount spent. Those who no longer had the documentary evidence would be paid a flat fee (£500 in the case of legal fees). | |
| Javid announced last week that there was a £200m fund to compensate an estimated 15,000 people affected by Home Office decisions to misclassify long-term British residents as illegal immigrants. But there was no reliable estimate of how many people were affected by the mistakes and the total amount paid out could exceed £570m, government documents revealed, if as many as 30,000 people apply. | Javid announced last week that there was a £200m fund to compensate an estimated 15,000 people affected by Home Office decisions to misclassify long-term British residents as illegal immigrants. But there was no reliable estimate of how many people were affected by the mistakes and the total amount paid out could exceed £570m, government documents revealed, if as many as 30,000 people apply. |
| Windrush scandal | Windrush scandal |
| Commonwealth immigration | Commonwealth immigration |
| Immigration and asylum | Immigration and asylum |
| Diane Abbott | Diane Abbott |
| David Lammy | David Lammy |
| Sajid Javid | Sajid Javid |
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