Immigration to the United Kingdom

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Efforts by the Home Office to remedy the injustices suffered by people caught up in the Windrush scandal are ongoing. The Windrush compensation scheme has recently begun to issue award offers, and legislation underpinning the scheme has been introduced for the 2019-20 session. Some stakeholders remain dissatisfied with aspects of the Government's response to the scandal.

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• The obstacles these individuals encountered trying to prove their status, and the dire implications for their lives in the UK, have come to be referred to as the Windrush scandal.
• The overall number of people affected isnt known.
• Attention initially focussed on people from Caribbean Commonwealth countries, particularly Windrush children people who came to the UK as children to join family members who had migrated post-WW2.

What caused the problems?

• Indefinite Leave to Remain), in practice many people have been living in the UK for decades without documentary proof of their immigration/nationality status.
• These policies were aimed at tackling illegal immigration, by making it harder for people without legal status to access services and live undetected in the UK.
• In theory they could resolve their difficulties by applying to the Home Office for confirmation of their status.
• The Home Office has acknowledged that it lost sight of this cohort of cases when designing and implementing broader immigration policies.

Actions taken by the Government in response

• Under pressure to recognise the significance of the problem, in April 2018 the Home Office announced some measures it was taking to address the Windrush generation’s situation. These included:
  • conducting reviews of historical Caribbean Commonwealth cases wrongly targeted by the Home Office for detention/removal or a compliant environment sanction;
  • establishing a ‘Windrush Scheme’ to issue confirmation of status documents (and in some cases, grants of British citizenship) free of charge to eligible applicants;
  • establishing a ‘Windrush Taskforce’ to assist people who may be eligible under the Windrush Scheme;
  • establishing a ‘Windrush Compensation Scheme’;
  • initiating an independent ‘Lessons Learned’ review; and
  • suspending aspects of the ‘hostile/compliant environment’ policy and amending some related guidance.
  • The time-limited compensation scheme was launched in April 2019.
  • It was originally intended to be open for two years,butthe Government has recently extended the deadline for applying until 2 April 2023.
  • The Windrush Compensation Scheme (Expenditure) Billwas introduced to the House on 8 January 2020.

Ongoing controversies

• Stakeholders have complained of delays in resolving cases referred to the Taskforce and in establishing the compensation scheme and an interim hardship fund.
• In a couple of cases people have died before their cases and claims for compensation were resolved.
• As at 31 December 2019, 1,108 compensation claims had been received.
• The Home Office has said that many of these were interim payments, so claimants may receive further payments in the future.
• For example, it hasbroadened the mitigations policy so that decision-makerscanconsidera wider range ofactions taken by individuals to resolve their situation.

External scrutiny

• The reports 30recommendations for change call on the Home Office to acknowledge the wrong done, open itself up to greater scrutiny, and change its culture.
• The Home Secretary set out the Governments initial response to the Lessons Learned report in a statement to the House on 19 March.
• She apologised, on behalf of the current and successive Governments, for the actions spanning decades which had led to the Windrush generations suffering.
• Shecommitted to putting people before process, and said thatthe Home Office would issuea detailed formal response to the report within the next six months.

Might other groups be at risk of similar difficulties?

Observers have identified other groups of people living in the UK who are facing similar difficulties in securing or documenting their status, or might do in the future, as a result of Home Office policy and practice. Specific concerns have been raised about people living in the UK with rights under EU law, undocumented children, and Chagos Islanders. The Home Office has rejected the comparisons.

• The EU Home Affairs Sub-Committee takes evidence on refugee resettlement from local authorities in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and London.
• This session will focus on the work local authorities and the devolved administrations are doing to resettle refugees in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and London.
• Under the Vulnerable Person and Vulnerable Childrens Resettlement Schemes the Government committed to providing sanctuary to 23,000 refugees by 2020.
• Topics likely to be covered across both sessions include:
  How is refugee resettlement managed in your areas?

• The Georgian Immigration Enforcement Training Video Unit has successfully recorded its 4000th arrest.
• It is an organisational unit formed for the purposes of creating observational video documentation of tactical procedural immigration enforcement operations.
• The Immigration Enforcement Training Video Unit focuses on the work of Georgian enforcement bodies and authoritative personnel with primary emphasis on the activities of those working to decrease the number of illegal immigrants entering the country.
• In accordance with policy advancements in Georgia the Georgian Immigration Enforcement Training Video Unit (GIETVU) was formed in order to help develop and disseminate best practice and increase operational results.