We have kicked off a Windrush awareness campaign to encourage more people (but this time mostly not of Caribbean heritage) to apply to the Home Office Windrush documentation and compensation schemes. The crisis did not only affect people from the Caribbean. Commonwealth citizens from countries like Nigeria, India, Ghana, kenya, Cameroon and South Africa were also affected. The schemes has also benefitted more than 2000 people from across different European countries like France, Germany and Italy who arrived in the Uk and were also affected by the crisis
Speaking at the Ghanaian led Christian Gold Pentecostal church in Kensington, Mrs Oluwaremilejun Adetayo (from Nigeria) gave a brief history of how and why the crisis started and what the Home Office has been doing since 2018 to rectify the loss of British nationality and other personal loses thousands of people suffered as a result they could not proff their British Citizenship. “Many people who qualify to apply to the documentation scheme and compensation scheme for many reasons were not applying for one reason or another. I have learnt some eople think the Home Office was trying to use the scheme to identify and deport people but that is not what the scheme is about” she said. After applying to the scheme and subject to checks the home office makes, affected people can either get free documentation (a British passport) or compensation (monetary payments for any loss they could have suffered) which could include losing jobs, mortgages, failing to get healthcare, being detained or being deported. According to the Home Office the schme is “…open to any eligible person who arrived in the United Kingdom before 1988 from any country who is lawfully in the United Kingdom. In certain cases, individuals based overseas may also be able to claim(for compensation). The Scheme is also open to close family members of those groups
Questions
As expected, may people who attended the event had a myriad of questions to ask from where to apply for the documentation to eligibility criteria. A Ugandan participation said she knew a few people who qualified but who thought the application process was too cumbersome, the documents required were difficult to get or they just did not trust the Home Office. Mrs Mrs Adetayo assured her the Home Office genuinely wanted to resolve the crisis, Citizen Outreach Coalition Project manager Francis Ngwa added it cost nothing for people to check if they qualified with the Windrush help team.
We will be holding more community events with Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities, holding roadshows and publicizing the schemes on social media in the weeks and months ahead.
How to apply to the documentation and compensation schemes
Contact
Windrush Help Team
Telephone: 0800 678 1925
Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm
If you need help filling in the application form
You can contact We Are Group if you:
do not feel confident using a computer or mobile device
do not have internet access
We Are Group
Telephone: 0808 196 8496
You can also get more information from the following links
Windrush Scheme: get a document showing your right to be in the UK: Overview – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Apply to the Windrush Compensation Scheme: How to claim – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Windrush Compensation Scheme (publishing.service.gov.uk)
