Only 3% of Windrush claimants have so far received compensation

Only 36 people have received Windrush compensation payments, 10 months after the scheme’s launch, the Home Office has revealed as it announced an extension to the claims deadline in response to widespread complaints.

The UK Guardian reports that the extension follows frustration from people who have already submitted claims or who have attempted to fill in the compensation form.

Campaigners have called for the government to fund legal advice so claimants can be helped to apply.

According to the UK Guardian, the Home Office has paid out a total of just £62,198 to 36 people so far – just over 3% of claimants – out of a compensation pot that could distribute somewhere between £200m and £570m.

It was further reported that over 1,100 people have submitted claims.

It is not clear how many people were affected by the scandal – many people lost jobs and homes, were denied benefits or healthcare, and in extreme cases were detained or deported – but since the government first apologised for the mistake in April 2018 over 8,000 people have been given documents confirming they are here legally.

A two-year extension to the compensation deadline has been introduced, so that people affected by the immigration scandal, in which the Home Office wrongly classified thousands of legal UK residents as illegal immigrants, now have until April 2023 to claim, the UK Guardian reports.

The Home Office has reportedly also promised to make the application process more flexible, agreeing to take a wider range of circumstances into account.

People will no longer be asked to prove that they took immediate steps to resolve their immigration status when they realised there was a problem.

One of those still awaiting compensation is Joycelyn John.

The Home Office booked her on to a flight to Grenada, a country she had not lived in since leaving aged four in 1963 after telling her she was here illegally.

She applied last April and is angry at the long wait, not least because she remains in debt as a result of the issue.

She spent 18 months semi-destitute in Grenada, before being allowed to return when the problem was uncovered in 2018.

“I ring every week and they tell me: ‘I can’t give you any information, it is with a case worker, it is being processed,’” she said.

Receiving compensation would represent “an end to all the grief.”

The Home Office’s announcement was welcomed by groups supporting people to apply for compensation but there was disappointment that no money had been allocated to pay for legal advice.

Follow The Gleaner on Twitter and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us @onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.