Only 60 in Windrush scandal are paid so far

FEWER THAN five per cent of claims made under the Government’s Windrush Compensation Scheme have been paid out, according to official figures.

The Home Office said it paid £362,996 to 60 people, including one payment in excess of £100,000, during the first year of the scheme.

The data add that 1,275 claims were made by the end of March this year, with the number received by the department decreasing each quarter since it launched.

The compensation fund has an estimated budget of at least £200 million, with the Home Office adding it had also made offers of approximately £280,000 which have yet to be accepted.

It said many people who had received compensation were likely to get more because what they had been given so far was an interim payment.

Shadow justice secretary David Lammy wrote on Twitter: “Thousands of black Britons had their lives ruined by their own government in the Windrush scandal.

“Today we learn only 60 have received a penny of compensation. This is a gross insult.”

MPs have previously warned there was a risk of people dying before they received compensation owed unless the Government stepped up its efforts.

In 2018, ministers faced a furious backlash over the treatment of the Windrush generation – named after the ship that brought migrants to Britain from the Caribbean in 1948.

Commonwealth citizens who arrived before 1973 were automatically granted indefinite leave to remain. But some were later challenged over their immigration status, despite living in the UK legally for decades.

Home Secretary Priti Patel, in a statement issued alongside the latest compensation data, said: “By listening to feedback from community leaders and those affected, we have begun to put right the wrongs caused.”