Only 60 Windrush victims given compensation so far

Only 60 people have received Windrush compensation payments during the first year of the scheme’s operation, with just £360,000 distributed from a fund officials expected might be required to pay out between £200mn and £500mn.

There has been rising concern among support groups working with those affected by the Home Office scandal about the slowness of compensation offers, and about the difficulties experienced by those trying to claim.

One individual has received a payment of more than £100,000, which suggests the other 59 people who have been granted compensation will have received relatively low payouts averaging £4,400, according to figures released yesterday.

By the end of March, 1,275 people had applied under the scheme.

Many of those who are still waiting for compensation remain in difficult financial circumstances, as a direct result of their treatment by the Home Office when they were mistakenly classified as being in the UK illegally, as a result of the “hostile environment” against illegal immigration introduced by Theresa May, when she was home secretary from 2010 onwards.

Many were sacked, and subsequently found themselves ineligible for unemployment benefits despite having paid taxes for decades.

Some people were evicted from their homes because they built up arrears as a result of being sacked.

More than 160 people were mistakenly detained or removed from the country, and sent back to countries they had left as children decades earlier.

Many are waiting for compensation payments, so they can repay debts accrued during that period of enforced unemployment.

Some applicants have described being asked to provide very high levels of documentary evidence proving their right to compensation.

While there is an understanding of the need to prove eligibility, some have felt the process echoes the original scandal, when they struggled to persuade Home Office staff that they were living in the UK legally, and were asked for large quantities of difficult-to-find documentary proof, showing they had arrived as children in the 1950s and 1960s.

Support groups helping claimants to fill in the application forms say many people have yet to submit their claims, because they are still gathering evidence to prove eligibility.

Since the government first apologised for its mistakes two years ago, more than 12,000 people have received documentation from the Home Office confirming they are living in the UK legally – a figure that offers an indication of the number of people who may eventually claim compensation.