Windrush victims deserve similar support to postmasters - barrister

Martin Forde KC is a former adviser to the Windrush compensation scheme

Windrush victims deserve a compensation scheme similar to those affected by the Post Office scandal, a leading barrister says.

The Home Office appointed Martin Forde KC in 2018 to oversee the Windrush compensation scheme - but he has since become one of its fiercest critics.

He told BBC News the process for Windrush victims to claim compensation “is still very document heavy” and moves at a “glacial” pace.

The Home Office says it has paid more than £75m to victims and is improving the scheme, so people can receive as much compensation as quickly as possible.

A government spokesperson said each claim was "personal" to the claimant and "deserves to be processed with the utmost care and sensitivity".

The Windrush scandal unfolded in April 2018, after it was revealed thousands of British people were wrongly classed as illegal immigrants.

Many were wrongly deported, while others faced difficulty securing work, accessing healthcare or finding somewhere to live.

Most people affected were of Caribbean origin and arrived in the UK between 1948 and 1971.

In September last year, the Home Office announced it would be disbanding its team dedicated to Windrush policy.

'Increasingly irritated'

Mr Forde said the Windrush compensation scheme “cries out for legal aid” and “people still aren’t getting the assistance that they need” five years after the system was introduced.

He had every sympathy for the postmasters who had fallen victim to the Post Office scandal but had become “increasingly irritated” by the gulf in expertise working on those cases compared with for Windrush victims.

The Post Office scandal has been called the biggest miscarriage of justice in UK history, after more than 900 sub-postmasters and postmistresses were prosecuted, between 1999 and 2015, using information from faulty financial software.

It has received increased attention following ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office, with the government promising swift exoneration and compensation for victims.

“You’ve got retired judges, senior parliamentarians and six forensic accountants working on the postmaster scheme,” Mr Forde said.

“There just isn’t that kind of expertise being brought to bear [for the Windrush compensation scheme].

"People aren’t getting future loss of earnings. They’re not getting loss of career. They’re not getting loss of promotion prospects, not getting loss of pension. They’re not getting any interest on what they have lost.

“And the whole thing is just hidebound with bureaucracy.”

Mr Forde also highlighted the age of many of the Windrush generation, saying it was important to “realise that some of the cohort are really quite elderly… which is why new claims would have to be inherited”, adding to the legal complexity of cases.

'Their voice'

Glenda Caesar, a mother of four and grandmother of 12, who came to the UK as a baby, lost her job as an NHS administrator in 2009 and faced deportation.

She was denied the right to work for nearly a decade.

And the scandal even affected her son, born in the UK in 1988 but denied a passport.

Ms Caesar now represents other Windrush victims in their campaigns for compensation.

"I am their voice. I will speak for them. I will challenge the ministers and the heads of these schemes," she said.