Home Office trying to gag Windrush victims – Abbott
LABOUR has accused Sajid Javid’s Home Office of trying to “buy the silence” of victims of the Windrush generation scandal.
Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott accused the Government of trying to “gag” Windrush generation victims by imposing non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) on those paid compensation as a result of immigration blunders.
The Independent reported that an NDA had been used on at least one person and another had been approached to agree such a deal.
Mr Javid told MPs in July that a new compensation scheme for Windrush-era migrants would not involve gagging clauses.
“No one will be asked to sign any kind of non-disclosure agreement or anything like that,” he said.
But just days earlier – on July 13 – he had written to the Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC) to say that payments had already been made through other routes in some cases and there could have been the use of an NDA.
“Where we consider that the department has erred, we will seek to reduce any further distress for the claimant by making an offer of compensation, rather than continue through a lengthy legal challenge,” he said.
“I can confirm that Windrush generation cases are sometimes addressed through this route.
“For clarity there has been one individual who has received compensation and we have sought to make contact proactively with another.
“Whilst there is no requirement, settlement offers are sometimes accompanied by confidentiality clauses, depending on individual circumstances.”
Ms Abbott said: “The Windrush generation has been failed time and time again by this Government.
“The Home Secretary promised to ‘do right’ by our fellow citizens from the Windrush generation yet it appears he has gone back on his word.
“The Home Office must not attempt to buy the silence of citizens who have been so shockingly wronged and had their rights so gravely infringed in return for compensation that they are entitled to.
“It is totally unacceptable for the Home Office to impose non-disclosure agreements and gag those who have suffered at the hands of the hostile environment, in order to cover up the true scale of the Windrush scandal.
“The Home Office must compensate all those who have suffered without further delay and without any form of non-disclosure agreement.
“It is an insult that the Home Secretary has still failed to even confirm when the promised compensation scheme will be up and running after so many of our fellow citizens have been left destitute, in debt and jobless by the Government’s hostile environment.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “The case referred to in the letter to the HASC predated the Windrush Compensation Scheme.
“There will be no requirement or need to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) for any individual who receives compensation through this scheme, and the Home Secretary has already made clear his intention to take this different approach for the Windrush generation.”