A new study has found that many victims of the Windrush scandal have received much less compensation than they were entitled to - because they didn't have legal advice.
The government’s Windrush Compensation Scheme provides financial support to people who were wrongly denied their legal right to live in the UK. But it doesn't offer legal assistance, unlike similar schemes offered to victims of the Post Office and the infected blood scandal.
The charity Justice, the University of Sussex and the law firm Dechert reviewed 17 applications to the compensation fund. Their study found that claimants who challenged their awards after taking legal advice received huge increases in the amount offered.
In one case, a pay-out increased from £300 to £170,000 after a claimant was given legal assistance.
The scheme denied compensation to two-thirds of applicants.
Bishop Joe Aldred who was a member of the Windrush cross-government working group, gave his reaction to Premier:
“Justice and fairness is something demanded, isn't it by God?
“So I think the lesson I learned about justice is that it is hardly ever given. It is nearly always something to be sought after and taken. And in this case, what we find here is the government having been caught red handed in classifying certain people who had every right to live and work in the UK as not eligible to do so, quickly rustled up a couple of ways in which they might amend and one of them was to make it easier for folks to become citizens. There were citizens already, but to have proof of it, and the other was to set up a compensation scheme for those who had been injured.
Bishop Aldred said one man he had spoken to had made a compensation claim and was offered “something miserly. He then challenged it. He still hasn't had a full outcome yet, but they're talking much different figures to what they started out talking. So I guess what I'm saying is that justice is something we think we are owed, particularly people who are wronged, but getting justice is nearly always a fight and something to be pursued.”
He added that “Churches and other campaigners do need to keep on at the government about the righteousness or the unrighteousness of making available a compensation scheme, but then making no provision for how people already disadvantaged and already hurt, might then pursue their claim.
“We need to step in to advise people. This is no different to what happens out in the world. We see superstars going to court and where they have money to employ the right kind of legal aids, then they nearly always end up with millions of pounds in compensation. But if you are an ordinary Joe, representing yourself, your case either gets thrown out or you get something quite marginally.
“So I think it's about recognizing the realities of where we are and getting alongside people. When you're dealing with the legal system, you need legal support. We should also be saying to Christian lawyers whether they can work on a no win, no fee basis. We know that if people have legal support, they're likely to get much more out of their claims than if they don't.”
The Windrush compensation scheme was set up in 2019 by the then Home Secretary Sajid Javid. £200m was allocated in compensation to people whose lives were damaged by the Home Office’s mistaken classification of thousands of long-term British residents as illegal immigrants.