QC: Windrush victims in line for big payouts Call to step forward for help
SOME Windrush victims could get hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation, a Home Office adviser says.
Martin Forde QC said they could claim for loss of earnings, inability to travel and no access to NHS care.
Some may also seek compensation for wrongful detention or removal from the UK. Mr Forde, designing the scheme, said: “There are potentially tens of thousands of victims. “And compensation payments could run into six figures for a small proportion of them.” Many of the Windrush generation arrived from the Caribbean between 1948 and 1973 with just landing cards, destroyed by the Home Office in 2010.
Many later lacked documents to get jobs, homes and bank accounts, or travel. The scandal only emerged this year.
Mr Forde knows of one woman who lost her £60,000-a-year job. Unable to work for ten years, she could be due £600,000 for income loss. A Home Office taskforce has helped sort out paperwork needed for around 4,500 migrants, but the total number affected is unknown.
Some 240,000 people are known to have migrated from the Caribbean to the UK between 1948 and 1961. But other estimates put the total nearer to 500,000.
Mr Forde said fear may put some off of coming forward. He said: “Some people got Home Office letters telling them to go home and they did. Others were wary of coming forward and they still are.
“Some are worried they’ll be deported. I can guarantee that won’t happen.”