Asked by: Abena Oppong-Asare (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unsuccessful claims for compensation under the Windrush compensation scheme have been subject to appeal up to 1 June 2023.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Windrush Compensation Scheme has established a review process for those dissatisfied with their compensation offer. First, a review can be conducted through an internal Home Office review by a senior decision maker not involved with the original decision (Tier 1). If someone is still dissatisfied, an independent review is conducted by the Adjudicator’s Office (Tier 2).
Information relating to the number of Windrush Compensation Scheme claims that applied for a Tier 1 or Tier 2 review is included in Windrush Compensation Scheme Transparency Data.
The latest Transparency data for the Compensation Scheme was published on 1 June 2023, which covers the period up to the end of April 2023. Data covering the period of May 2023 up to 1 June 2023 has not yet been published.
The requested information can be found on Tab WCS_09 Windrush Compensation Scheme data: April 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Abena Oppong-Asare (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what has been the cost to public purse of services provided by the We Are Digital company for the Windrush compensation scheme as of 15 June 2023.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office does not publish this information as it is deemed to be commercially confidential. Publishing this information would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of both the Home Office and those companies with whom the Home Office enters contracts.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to providing entitlement to legal aid to Windrush scandal victims to navigate the compensation process; and what steps they plan to take, if any, to improve the accessibility of the compensation scheme.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
We have designed the Compensation Scheme to be as clear and simple as possible, so people do not need legal assistance to make a claim. However, for those who want or need support to make a claim, the Home Office provides free assistance in making applications through our independent claims assistance provider – We Are Digital (WAD).
WAD has extensive experience of dealing with isolated and vulnerable customers and working with the Home Office and, through their partners, have a nationwide network of community-based centres.
Were we to allow applicants to recover legal costs in applying to the Scheme, we may serve to encourage organisations to take advantage of potentially vulnerable individuals and charge them for unnecessary support to complete a claim.
Claims forms were redesigned in 2021, in collaboration with stakeholders to make them easier to complete. This included obtaining the Crystal Mark, demonstrating our commitment to clarity, and communicating with claimants using plain English.
Decision makers also work with claimants to gather information on their behalf.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of findings by Human Rights Watch that human rights are being violated as a result of the failure to implement an effective compensation scheme under the Windrush Compensation Scheme.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
We do not accept the Human Rights Watch assessment of the Windrush Compensation Scheme nor that human rights are being violated in the way it is operated. We remain absolutely committed to righting the wrongs of Windrush. The latest Windrush Compensation Scheme statistics show that £57.13m had been paid out by the end of February 2023 across 1,520 claims. A further £11.13m has been offered, awaiting acceptance, or pending review, taking the total amount paid or offered to £68.27m. In addition, over 60% of claims have received a final decision.
We have engaged with Human Rights Watch in response to their report and will continue to work with them to discuss their findings. We are making good progress towards the vast majority of recommendations from Wendy Williams’ report and believe there are more meaningful ways of achieving the intent of a very small number of others.
Through this work, we will make sure that similar injustices can never be repeated and are creating a Home Office worthy of every community it serves.
The Home Secretary continues to co-host Windrush Working Group meetings to discuss how we can work together to drive further improvements.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to grant victims of the Windrush scandal the right to have a hearing at the Home Office.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
If an individual is dissatisfied with the outcome of their compensation claim, they can ask the Home Office to review its decision. This will be an internal independent review by someone who has not been involved in the individual’s case (Tier 1 review).
If an individual remains dissatisfied, they can then request an external independent review (Tier 2 review). Their claim will be looked at by the Adjudicator’s Office.
The Adjudicator’s Office is a separate organisation, independent of the Home Office who can look at, among other things, whether the department has followed its policies, and the use of discretion by the Windrush Compensation Team.
The compensation scheme is intended to properly compensate members of the Windrush generation and to deliver on the commitment to right the wrongs that were experienced, while avoiding the need for court proceedings. We think this is in the best interests of those affected.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to assist victims of the Windrush scandal who still face long waits; and what plans they have to review the levels of compensation granted to applicants of the Windrush Compensation Scheme.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
Following implementation of the significant changes made to the Scheme since December 2020, we are now fully focused on reducing the time between claim submission and decision. The Scheme continues to run ongoing recruitment campaigns to ensure the necessary level of staffing is maintained and has continued to backfill those who have left. Alongside significantly increasing the number of EO decision makers, the Scheme has also increased quality assurance capacity to ensure more decisions can be assured and processed at pace.
In the meantime, as set out by the Home Secretary at the Windrush Working Group Meeting on 24 January 2023, additional experienced EO decision makers have been deployed on a temporary basis to assist with accelerating decision making, this is in addition to the established EO decision makers that are already in post.
Alongside significantly increasing the amount of Decision makers, we have also increased our Quality Assurance capacity to ensure more decisions can be assured and processed at pace. Furthermore, we are improving the evidence gathering process, including revising our data sharing agreements with other government departments.
We continue to listen and respond to feedback received from stakeholders and our customers to ensure the Scheme is operating effectively for everyone.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for a grant from the 2022-23 Windrush community engagement fund were approved before the scheme was withdrawn.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Due to internal processing delays in assessing bids for the Community Engagement Fund 2022-23, the Home Office took the decision to withdraw the competition in February this year. Continuing with this competition would have left organisations with very little time to complete their proposed projects before the end of the 22/23 financial year. None of the applications for the grant fund were approved before withdrawal.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason funding for the Windrush community engagement fund was withdrawn.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Due to internal delays in assessing bids, the Home Office withdrew the Community Engagement Fund in February 2023. Continuing would have left organisations with very little time to complete projects before the end of the 22/23 financial year.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason her Department decided not to award grants to Windrush community organisations as part of the community engagement fund in March 2023.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Due to internal delays in assessing bids, the Home Office decided to withdraw the Community Engagement Fund in February 2023. Continuing would have left organisations with very little time to complete projects before the end of the 22/23 financial year.
Asked by: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the 2023-24 Windrush community engagement grant fund will be allocated.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Required administrative processes to launch a £150,000 Community Engagement Fund for the financial year 2023-24 are in train and the aim is to start the competition for bids as soon as possible.