Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they use the civil test of 'the balance of probabilities’ or the criminal law test of ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ to assess claims to the Windrush Compensation Scheme.

The Windrush Compensation Scheme awards compensation to individuals according to both actual losses that an individual may have suffered, and tariff-based awards. Where compensation is awarded for actual losses it is right that we seek to obtain an appropriate level of assurance that these losses were incurred, in order to fulfil our duty to properly manage taxpayers’ money.

We do not expect those seeking compensation to meet the criminal standard of proof. The Windrush Compensation Scheme rules and caseworker guidance, which set out the criteria by which claims under the scheme are considered, are currently being revised to confirm this. The revised rules and guidance will be published on gov.uk later this month.

The current compensation scheme rules are available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/windrush-compensation-scheme-full-rules

and the current caseworker guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/windrush-compensation-scheme-casework-guidance