Windrush victims offered £1m payout

VICTIMS of the Windrush scandal have been offered more than £1million compensation, Priti Patel said yesterday.

The Home Secretary said the Government will implement all 30 recommendations of a review into failings that saw legal British residents deported and made destitute.

She said work continues to ensure that those who suffered will receive the documentation and the compensation they need. Mrs Patel told MPs: ‘Over 12,000 people have been granted documentation by the task force,

including over 5,900 grants of citizenship and the compensation scheme continues to make payments.’

She added: ‘The rate of claims has increased significantly in the last few months. As of March more than £360,000 had been awarded and over £1 million been offered in claims.’

The Home Secretary, who has previously publicly apologised for the failings, told the Commons she would speak to the author of the review.

She said: ‘I was clear when Wendy Williams published her Lessons Learned Review that I would listen and I would act.’ The review, which was published in March, was critical of the ‘hostile environment’ migrant policy.

It made 30 recommendations, including that the Government should host a programme of reconciliation events with the Windrush generation, ensure that Home Office staff undertake a comprehensive programme covering the UK’s colonial history, and appoint a Migrants’ Commission.

Mrs Patel agreed with Labour that payouts had been ‘far too slow’.