Fury over £1m for agency to type Windrush money as victims die ready for payout

Officials have been blasted for spending over £1million to rent a non-public agency to dish out compensation for the Windrush scandal.

Thousands, principally from the Caribbean, had been threatened with deportation and denied advantages and NHS care, regardless of dwelling right here for many years.

Ministers arrange a compensation scheme in April 2019 however simply £75million out of round £300million has been paid. At least 40 victims have died ready for his or her cash.

The Home Office has now put out a young for £1.3million to “provide independent advisory services” for these making use of and help “those who require additional support to complete the form”. It goals to have a provider in place by July.

Campaigner Patrick Vernon OBE – who led requires Windrush Day, marking the arrival of the primary massive group of migrants from the West Indies on June 22, 1948 – informed us: “The survivors have no confidence in this scheme and the Home Office. It is clear the Home Office do not care about this. Spending another million pounds to try and sort it will end in failure.”

Martin Forde, a lawyer representing victims, stated: “We have had stories of people being wrongly denied tens of thousands of compensation and of families torn apart while they await an outcome. It is unacceptable.”

Last month, Baroness Doreen Lawrence joined requires the scheme to be taken away from the Home Office and run independently. The Home Office stated it “remains committed to righting the wrongs of the Windrush scandal”, including: “Well over half of live cases are less than six months old and compensation pay-ments are made as quickly as possible.”