Windrush Compensation Scheme

Luke Evans Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Priti Patel]

Because I am here today giving an unequivocal commitment to ensuring that the recommendations are implemented and to ensuring that we bring about justice for those individuals who suffered great injustice and hardship.

[Dr Luke Evans (Bosworth) (Con) [V]]

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for the tone that she is taking in this matter and the fact that she is taking it head on to implement all the outcomes of the review. I have a constituent who was involved in Windrush. She spent her life since coming to the UK working in the NHS. Fortunately she was successful in her case and has had compensation. However, it took weeks for decisions to be made. What assessment has my right hon. Friend made about the progress the Home Office is making with successfully resolving cases? What further measures have been identified to ensure that decision making and awarding compensation are done with minimal delay and minimal issues?

[Priti Patel]

My hon. Friend has heard what I have said about the compensation scheme. He is right: there is a process. That process already has 13 separate categories where considerations are given to looking at every single claim. As ever, we can obviously try to speed up processes, but at the end of the day we have to work with the individual to provide background to the injustice they have suffered, such as issues around their employment or any financial hardship they have experienced. I know that my hon. Friend will understand that it is right that we have this bespoke process to ensure that the right level of compensation is awarded. We want the maximum levels to be awarded to individuals. That does take time. We are working through this right now to ensure that we can speed up processes to make them as fast as we can.