EXPERT COMMENT LAST UPDATED : 21 JUNE 2023
Martin Levermore, an Independent Advisor to the Government on Windrush and Visiting Professor at Birmingham City University (BCU) says, since March 2021 the Windrush Compensation Scheme has gone a long way in ‘righting the wrongs’ of the Windrush Scandal.
Professor Levermore OBE DL said: “The shameful unravelling of UK Government policies against people and their families that had moved to the UK between 1948 and 1971 coined the term ‘the Windrush Generation’.
“Government action during the ‘Windrush scandal’ in 2018 meant that many of those individuals were unable to demonstrate their lawful immigration status to remain.
“Since March 2021, compensation payments are being made as quickly as possible and the government has gone a significant way to ‘righting the wrongs’.
“As of April 2023, the total amount paid or offered to claimants through the scheme was over £72.56 million. £61.26 million has been paid across 1,637 claims and a further £11.3 million has been offered, awaiting acceptance, or pending review.
“As a first-generation British born national of Jamaica parents (father arrived in the UK in 1952 and mother arrived 1953), I am so deeply proud and immensely humbled by the pioneering spirit, the selfless-sacrifice, resilience, and positive contribution made by them and others towards nation building.”