Apprehension and suspicion remains towards the Home Office among the Windrush generation and their descendants, the pastor who has vowed to be their “trusted voice” to get justice has said.
Reverend Clive Foster, the first Windrush commissioner, has pledged to push for speedier payouts from a much-criticised compensation scheme for those affected by the scandal.
Last month just ahead of announcing his appointment, immigration minister Seema Malhotra confirmed around 64 claimants had died after applying for payouts, as she set out the Government’s wish to speed up “justice”.
On Wednesday, she will attend an event with Mr Foster where people affected by the scandal, which erupted in 2018 when British citizens were wrongly detained, deported or threatened with deportation despite having the right to live in Britain, will hear from the commissioner on his aims for his role.
A total of 10,326 claims had been made under the scheme as of May this year, according to the latest Home Office data.
The figures also showed that just over £112 million has been paid out so far, covering 3,334 claims.
In an interview with the PA news agency ahead of the event, Mr Foster said he will be advocating for a “fair, accessible and trauma-informed” compensation scheme.
While some campaigners have called for the scheme to be moved out of the Home Office altogether, due to applicants’ lack of trust in the department, Mr Foster appeared to disagree with such a change.
He told PA: “I think what I will be pushing for is to make sure that this compensation scheme must be seen to be fair, accessible and trauma-informed, and I will be pushing to get swifter outcomes.
“I know there’s been a call for movement into another area (out of the Home Office), but I think we should be careful what we wish for.
“I think it’s important that we make the scheme workable.”
Asked if he felt moving it to another department might risk further delays to payouts, he said: “I think that is a possibility.”
He said the Home Office would not want a situation where it has “further “reasons why it cannot be giving out fast decisions and compensation to people who have been terribly affected as a result of the scandal, and so this movement, I think, would inevitably cause some of that slowing down, and I think that is something that we have to be aware of”.
He said he had already pressed on the minister the need for guarantees around pension losses being covered by the scheme.
Ms Malhotra has previously said officials in her department are “reviewing the current exclusion within the rules of compensation for private and occupational pensions”.
Mr Foster said he will work with “like-minded campaigners” to address problems with the scheme and “to inform the Home Office where they’re getting it right and where they’re getting it wrong, without fear or favour”.
Asked to describe the level of trust in the Home Office currently among those affected by the scandal, he said: “I’m afraid I still feel that there is apprehension and some suspicion with regards to, ‘is this working towards better outcomes?’
“What we need to accelerate is the actions and activities that are going to build trust. I always say ‘you can’t cross a bridge until you’ve built it.’”
He said the department must show through actions rather than only words “that there is going to be a culture change”.
Mr Foster, a senior pastor at the Pilgrim Church in Nottingham and the son of parents who migrated to the UK from Jamaica in 1959, said he will “be reaching out to communities and acting as that advocate and trusted voice, as it were, going forward”.
Among his top priorities will be ensuring people are comfortable to come forward and get the correct documentation to ensure they have settled status and are not “wrongly classified as illegal”.
He said: “People still need to feel that they can be respected and accepted to come forward without that fear of being penalised as a result of not having (the right documentation).”
Meanwhile, Mr Foster said he will also be working to ensure the legacy of the Windrush generation is celebrated in the future, including through the annual Notting Hill Carnival.
Campaigners last month called on the Government to step in to protect the future of the west London carnival, which they said was in jeopardy, as they asked for urgent funding to save the world-famous event.
Mr Foster said carnival “brings so much to the country, and I think that is an expression of the Windrush generation legacy”.
He added: “One of the things in my role would be to be looking to ensure that we continue to celebrate the legacy and the contribution of the Windrush generation, and carnival is one of those aspects, and I’ll be happy to engage in conversations to look at that going forward.”
