Asked by: Jack Dromey (Labour - Birmingham, Erdington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of claimants under the Windrush Compensation Scheme seeking a Tier 1 or Tier 2 review the Department who had legal representation; and how many of those reviews were successful compared to those made by claimants who are not known to have been legally represented.
Answered by Priti Patel
The Home Office has no published data to answer these questions. The information is not readily available in a reportable format nor held centrally and could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Jack Dromey (Labour - Birmingham, Erdington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of claimants under the Windrush Compensation Scheme that had legal representation; and how many of those claims were successful compared to those made by claimants who are not known to have been legally represented.
Answered by Priti Patel
The Home Office has no published data to answer these questions. The information is not readily available in a reportable format nor held centrally and could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many interim or preliminary payments have been made to Windrush Compensation Scheme applicants since changes to the scheme were announced on 14 December 2020.
Answered by Priti Patel
Information on payments made by the Windrush Compensation Scheme in December will be published shortly. Information on the scheme for November is available for view at GOV.UK https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/windrush-compensation-scheme-data-december-2020
Our priority remains to process claims as quickly as possible and the recently updated Windrush Compensation factsheet https://homeofficemedia.blog.gov.uk/2020/12/14/windrush-compensation-scheme-factsheet-december-2020/ sets out the timetable for when individuals will becontacted.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many successful Windrush Compensation claims have been (a) paid and (b) completed.
Answered by Priti Patel
Information on the Windrush Compensation Scheme claims that have been paid is available to view on GOV.UK at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/windrush-compensation-scheme-data-november-2020
Information on the number of Windrush Compensation Scheme claims that have been completed is not available in the public domain.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Windrush Compensation Scheme claims her Department has (a) accepted and (b) rejected, to date.
Answered by Priti Patel
Information on the Windrush Compensation Scheme claims that have been (a) accepted and (b) rejected, to date is available to view on GOV.UK at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/windrush-compensation-scheme-data-november-2020
Our priority remains to process claims as quickly as possible. However, the Home Office does not have a set time within which claims are to be resolved. This is because the Windrush Compensation Scheme has thirteen claim categories, each individual’s compensation claim is deeply personal and requires detailed consideration to understand their circumstances and experiences. This enables the Home Office to make an individualised assessment of the value of compensation to be awarded. Some individuals’ experiences are more complex than others and it is right we take the time to ensure these are considered carefully. This holistic approach necessarily takes time, but is ultimately beneficial to individuals.
In some cases, we will make interim payments on parts of the claim that are straightforward to determine, such as immigration fees, thereby speeding up the provision of compensation.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time taken is to process an application to the Windrush Compensation Scheme.
Answered by Priti Patel
Information on the Windrush Compensation Scheme claims that have been (a) accepted and (b) rejected, to date is available to view on GOV.UK at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/windrush-compensation-scheme-data-november-2020
Our priority remains to process claims as quickly as possible. However, the Home Office does not have a set time within which claims are to be resolved. This is because the Windrush Compensation Scheme has thirteen claim categories, each individual’s compensation claim is deeply personal and requires detailed consideration to understand their circumstances and experiences. This enables the Home Office to make an individualised assessment of the value of compensation to be awarded. Some individuals’ experiences are more complex than others and it is right we take the time to ensure these are considered carefully. This holistic approach necessarily takes time, but is ultimately beneficial to individuals.
In some cases, we will make interim payments on parts of the claim that are straightforward to determine, such as immigration fees, thereby speeding up the provision of compensation.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has set a time limit by which Windrush Compensation Scheme claims must be settled from the time the claim is first submitted.
Answered by Priti Patel
Information on the Windrush Compensation Scheme claims that have been (a) accepted and (b) rejected, to date is available to view on GOV.UK at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/windrush-compensation-scheme-data-november-2020
Our priority remains to process claims as quickly as possible. However, the Home Office does not have a set time within which claims are to be resolved. This is because the Windrush Compensation Scheme has thirteen claim categories, each individual’s compensation claim is deeply personal and requires detailed consideration to understand their circumstances and experiences. This enables the Home Office to make an individualised assessment of the value of compensation to be awarded. Some individuals’ experiences are more complex than others and it is right we take the time to ensure these are considered carefully. This holistic approach necessarily takes time, but is ultimately beneficial to individuals.
In some cases, we will make interim payments on parts of the claim that are straightforward to determine, such as immigration fees, thereby speeding up the provision of compensation.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Independent - Edmonton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans her Department has to reduce the evidential requirements for eligibility for compensation from the Windrush Compensation Scheme from beyond reasonable doubt to the balance of probabilities.
Answered by Priti Patel
The Windrush Compensation Scheme awards compensation according to both actual losses and tariff-based awards. Where awards are for actual losses it is right we seek to obtain an appropriate level of assurance these losses were incurred in order to fulfil our duty to properly manage taxpayers’ money.
However, we do not expect people to meet the criminal standard of proof. We therefore published revised Windrush Compensation Scheme rules and guidance in October which clarify that the scheme operates on the balance of probabilities. This means caseworkers must be satisfied it is more likely than not that the losses and impacts being claimed for were suffered due to difficulties evidencing lawful status. We are working through more detailed changes to the ‘Loss of Access to Employment’ category to enable the actual losses section to be operated on the balance of probabilities as well.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Independent - Edmonton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made the effect of the requirement to provide evidence beyond reasonable doubt for the Windrush Compensation Scheme on the proportion of successful claimants.
Answered by Priti Patel
The Windrush Compensation Scheme awards compensation according to both actual losses and tariff-based awards. Where awards are for actual losses it is right we seek to obtain an appropriate level of assurance these losses were incurred in order to fulfil our duty to properly manage taxpayers’ money.
However, we do not expect people to meet the criminal standard of proof. We therefore published revised Windrush Compensation Scheme rules and guidance in October which clarify that the scheme operates on the balance of probabilities. This means caseworkers must be satisfied it is more likely than not that the losses and impacts being claimed for were suffered due to difficulties evidencing lawful status. We are working through more detailed changes to the ‘Loss of Access to Employment’ category to enable the actual losses section to be operated on the balance of probabilities as well.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many claimants have received compensation under the Windrush Compensation Scheme to date; and how many claimants are yet to receive compensation.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Information on the amount in total that has been paid to claimants under the Windrush Compensation Scheme and the total amount of claimants that have received payments to date is available to view on GOV.UK at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/windrush-compensation-scheme-data-october-2020. There inevitably is a high degree of uncertainty around estimated costs and volumes and the Home Office will continue to review estimates as more payments are made. However, there is no cap on the amount of compensation that the Home Office will pay out.
A total of 196 claimants have received payment up to the end of September 2020. We are processing claims and awarding compensation as quickly as possible. The first payment was made just four months after the scheme was launched and we are making interim payments where parts of a claim can be resolved more easily than others.
An offer must be accepted by a claimant before it can be paid, and claimants have a right of review. Overall, the value of all payments made through the scheme was over £1.6m. A further £1.2m had been offered to individuals, awaiting acceptance or pending review. https://homeofficemedia.blog.gov.uk/2020/08/27/windrush-factsheet-august-2020/. The published figures also show that 80 claims have been rejected on eligibility grounds and 81 claims had a zero award under entitlement.