Applicants from Iraq and Israel apply to UK's Windrush compensation scheme

Home office pays out £27 million as deadline for new applications is lifted

Home secretary Priti Patel removes deadline for applications to the Windrush compensation scheme. (AP Photo / Matt Dunham, Pool, File)

People from across the world, including Iraq and Israel, have successfully applied to the UK's Windrush compensation scheme.

Thousands of people born in the Commonwealth migrated legally to the UK as children in the 1950s and 1960s, but many were wrongfully detained, denied legal advice and threatened with deportation.

Home Secretary Priti Patel admitted members of the Windrush generation were repeatedly failed after being wrongly classified as illegal immigrants.

It led to the UK setting up the Windrush Compensation Scheme in 2019, through which more than £27 million ($37.1 million) in compensation has now been paid.

This week, Ms Patel announced that the end date for the Windrush scheme has been removed.

"I have always been clear that I will listen and act to put right the wrongs suffered by the Windrush generation," she said.

"I am removing the end date of the Windrush compensation scheme and announcing a new package of support to help bereaved families claim compensation more easily.

"The additional changes I am making will ensure everyone can claim the compensation they deserve and I am pleased that we have now paid or offered more than £34 million to victims so far."

The Home Office is also launching a package of support to make it easier for those making claims on behalf of a relative who has passed away.

This includes reimbursing up to £1,500 towards legal advice that has been sought to apply for probate, which is the legal right to deal with someone’s estate when they die.

Figures published this week show that, to the end of June 2021, the Home Office had paid £26.9 million to 776 people, and had offered a further £7.3 million.

Many members of the Windrush generation came to Britain in 1948 after the government advertised in Commonwealth nations, mainly those in the Caribbean, for workers to help rebuild houses damaged during the Second World War.

They arrived on the Empire Windrush ship, which anchored at Tilbury Docks, Essex, near London.