<\/p>\n
The Windrush commissioner has warned of a \u201churry for justice\u201d as more victims of the scandal die without redress, while stakeholders call for a public inquiry and legislative changes amid fears that a Reform government could stall progress toward justice.<\/p>\n
Speaking on the sidelines of a people\u2019s inquiry symposium for those affected by the Windrush scandal, Rev Clive Foster<\/a> said action was needed \u201cnow\u201d to deliver justice for those British residents whose lives were upended after being wrongly classified as illegal immigrants.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether the political landscape as we see it or not, I think the duration is long enough and that of itself is the motivation that we should be moving forward for justice,\u201d said Foster, a pastor from Nottingham whose parents came to the UK from Jamaica in 1959, and who was appointed to oversee the government\u2019s response to the scandal.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are sadly losing many of that generation who suffered and time is not on our side,\u201d he added. \u201cI am a man in a hurry for justice.\u201d<\/p>\n The second people\u2019s inquiry symposium, held in north London on Saturday, brought together survivors, campaigners and advocates intent on establishing pathways to justice with victims\u2019 voices at the forefront, while continuing to press the government to launch a statutory public inquiry<\/a> into the scandal.<\/p>\n The Windrush scandal<\/a> was brought to public attention through investigative reporting by the Guardian in 2017, which revealed thousands of legal UK residents to be mistakenly labelled as immigration offenders. Government schemes providing immigration status and compensation to those affected have since granted 17,000 people documentation and 2,600 of 8,800 claims have received compensation payments, as of July 2024.<\/p>\n Six months into Foster\u2019s appointment, the Labour party, which has pledged to improve the government\u2019s response, has adopted many of his recommendations for reforming the Windrush compensation scheme. But, years into the scandal, many are still struggling to navigate the process described as inefficient, bureaucratic, and retraumatising.<\/p>\n Among those still affected is Deborah, who has been supporting her brother in Barbados for decades since he has been unable to return to the UK after arriving as a Commonwealth citizen in 1966. \u201cHe didn\u2019t leave with the intention of not coming back,\u201d said Deborah, who asked to withhold her surname.<\/p>\n Last year she was instructed by the Home Office<\/a> to apply for the Windrush scheme, unknown to the family as her mother did not arrive on the Windrush boat, which carried thousands from the Caribbean to the UK in 1948 and has become shorthand for the scandal. Deborah said the claim was rejected, not having known the extent of evidence needed. In recent months, she travelled Barbados to gather documents in support of her brother\u2019s case.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s so much negligence,\u201d said Deborah. \u201cThere\u2019s got to be a public inquiry and the voices of the victims heard and listened to and tangible things, not just apologies.\u201d<\/p>\n