Only one in four applicants for the Windrush compensation plan has received payments four years after the government promised reparations for those the Home Office incorrectly classified as illegal immigrants.
Less than 7% of the 15,000 compensation claims the government initially expected have received payment. Prior to Windrush Day on Wednesday, complainants continued to report long delays and high levels of skepticism from officials handling their applications.
Cuthbert Prospere, 59, who arrived in the UK from St. Lucia when she was four in 1967, has been unable to convince compensation staff that she lost her job as a security guard at St Martin’s Church. -in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square, London, due to documentation issues. This despite a letter from the former Bishop of Salisbury confirming that he was a respected staff member.
Prospere struggled for decades to prove that he was legally in the UK and lost several jobs, including in the church, because he was unable to obtain the required security guard qualifications as a result of not having a passport.
His claim for compensation states: “His inability to prove his legal right to reside in the UK has effectively led him to a life of fear. He has lost numerous life opportunities and has been denied the right to prosecute. “His goals are to lead a normal life. His lack of immigration status has caught him in a cycle of poverty from which he has made great attempts to escape.”
However, Interior Ministry workers said it was not possible “on the balance sheet” to conclude that he could not get a job or that he had lost his job “due to his inability to prove his legality.” “. Her claim for loss of earnings was rejected despite both appeals, and she has recently accepted a smaller settlement in recognition of the “stress and anxiety” she suffered.
“When I read the answer, I felt that they were saying that the job I lost was the result of my imagination and that I was lying about everything. It depressed me and made me very angry not to have believed me,” he said. “The government promised to be fair and just. I’m trying not to bother.”
Nicholas Holtam, who was the church’s vicar until 2011, when he was appointed bishop of Salisbury, confirmed that Prospere had been employed as a hired security guard for “a significant number of years.” He said it was difficult to access church work records during this period, making it impossible to provide documentary evidence.
“I always thought he was a good soul, but that may not be enough for the Home Office,” he said. Lawyers also sent photographs and thank-you letters sent to Prospero while he was working at the church.
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A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said that of the 3,878 claims filed, 50% had received final decisions, of which 50% had been offered compensation. They added: “The mistreatment of the Windrush generation by successive governments was completely unacceptable and the Secretary of the Interior will correct these mistakes. We continue to process claims under the Windrush compensation scheme, which has now paid 40.5 million £ 1,037 in claims, with £ 8.2 million more offered, awaiting acceptance or pending review “.
Prospere’s lawyer, Imran Khan QC, said: “The compensation plan was presented as simple and straightforward. Cuthbert’s experience shows that the scheme actually works to make it as difficult as possible for them. Applicants, like Cuthbert, are made to feel as if they were liars. if life because of their immigration status is aggravated by the injustice of denying them the compensation they deserve. “
Leigh Day’s attorney, Jacqueline McKenzie, who handles about 200 claims, said she was “extremely concerned about the slowness of the scheme.” “People don’t hear anything for months and then they are asked for information that they have already sent. Case work is very poor, “he said.