Reforming the Windrush Compensation Scheme

I was born in Dominica but came to the UK in 1961 at only 3 months old in the arms of my parents, so the UK is the only home I’ve ever known. I grew up in London and spent 20 years working for the NHS as a GP Practice Administrator.

I first found out I wasn’t considered British in the 90’s, when I tried to apply for a passport to visit my dying mother in the Caribbean. The Home Office made it really difficult to get the right documents and eventually I gave up. I was so upset because my mum had suffered a stroke, and I knew she wouldn’t have long left. I’m really sad I couldn’t see her before she passed away.

I didn’t realise the scale of the problem until I was forced out of my job a few years later for the same reason. Not only was it impossible for me to get a new job but I also couldn’t access any benefits and lived 10 years without an income. I had no other choice but to cash in my private pension.

I was still getting job offers but I couldn’t accept any of them because of my status. I went for interviews, but they wouldn’t let me work because I couldn’t provide the documents they needed.

Even my son, who was born here, was unable to get his citizenship. He felt like he had been rejected by his own country, it really took a toll on his mental health and mine too. I felt like I had put him in this position, just by giving birth to him.

We weren’t able to work, or pay into a pension, or go to see our family abroad. It was devastating.

When it came to light that people like us had been wrongfully treated as illegal immigrants, I spoke to ITV to share my experience. After that, it only took the Home Office a week to finally give me documentation. And eventually, I was offered some compensation.

But all the pension contributions I could have been making wasn't included and the jobs, I missed out on weren’t considered. I did challenge the Home Office on this, but my claim was rejected. The Home Office said it was too difficult to compensate loss of pension or future earnings.

There are so many people who came from all over the world that share the same story as me, and they haven’t been compensated enough or at all. I’m standing up for them until everyone of us is validated.

The Government need to put people back into the position they would have been if it were not for their wrongdoings, they need to take real responsibility and show some regard for people of colour.

I was born in Jamaica, but I came to this country when I was 16 years old on a student visa but they wouldn’t let me study because I’m black. Those days they saw us by the colour of our skin, not by our character or ability. I was told if I joined the army, I could get citizenship after 5 years, so I joined the Parachute Regiment. But it was a lie.

I’ve been in active warfare three times, I put my life on the line for this country for 6 years. When I came out of the army in 1980, I suffered from PTSD so I really struggled to get on my feet. And when I tried to get housing, the council said they needed to see documentation of my status from the Home Office, so I couldn’t get accommodation. I was homeless for 18 years.

2006 is the first time the Home Office threatened to deport me to Jamaica, I received immigration bail and spent a few months in two holding centres before being released. In 2009, when they tried to deport me again, one hour before putting me on a plane out of here, they said I’m exempt from deportation because of the 1971 Immigration Act which stated that anyone who came before the 1st January 1973 was exempt.

When the Government couldn’t get me, they came for my son. Because he was born in the British Military Hospital in Berlin whilst I was serving in the army, they said he wasn’t British and threatened him with deportation.

In 2018, my daughter showed me how to apply for Compensation and after three years, I finally got compensated but it turns out I was underpaid due to my homelessness. I got my first accommodation under my name in this country in 2019. And although my claim has been reopened, my full compensation still hasn’t been paid to me because they’re dealing with fresh cases.

But new cases will keep coming. I’ll just be in a queue forever, I’ll never get what I’m actually owed. I might die before my claim gets processed. And although I started getting my military pension, I haven't got my war pension yet, when you fight in warfare you get more money, so I’m engaged in a tribunal hearing for it right now.

Me and my daughter run a surgery all over the country to help people fill out their application to the scheme. A lot of people don’t know how to apply or find it daunting. The Home Office try to hide the information, but we get out there.

The Government need to take the Scheme out of the Home Office’s hands. We need an unbiased, independent regulator to run the Scheme. The Home Office caused the problem, so how can they be the one giving out compensation. They’re still making the same mistakes they made back then. They still don’t know what they’re doing, and people of the Windrush generation can’t afford to keep being messed around. Time is not on our side.

I came to England in 1961 from St Lucia at seven years old. I did pretty much all my schooling here and then trained to become an Engineer. I spent 50 years working as an engineer.

I was sadly made redundant in 2017 but was offered a new job shortly after. They said I needed to provide a right to work document before I could start working. This was the first time I had run into issues with my status. I was only 7 years old when I came here, so I had no paperwork of my arrival, but I couldn’t get the job without it.

I had my school reports, my marriage certificate, my pension details. But still, I had to prove my right to be here.

I spent over a year unemployed whilst trying to get my documentation. There was no urgency from the Home Office, and they asked for so much proof, they made me feel like a criminal.

That year, I depleted all my savings. I sold my car and cancelled my life insurance, I even had to cash in my private pension just to have something to live on. My wife, Caroline, took on extra hours at her cleaning job to help make ends meet, but she was always really tired.

Later we found out she had stage 4 bowel cancer. It was a really difficult time mentally.

Once the Home Office scandal broke out in 2018, I got my documents. And within a matter of weeks, I went back to work. But with Caroline’s cancer progressing, we were still really struggling.

We had so many appointments to attend in London, so my kids had to help out. And I wanted to be by her side but after all the financial strain we’d been through, I had no savings or pension to fall back on, I couldn’t afford to take time off work and still pay the bills.

In 2018, my daughter helped me make a claim to the Windrush Compensation Scheme. The level of evidence was ridiculous and several things we’d send to the Home Office would get lost, so we’d have to send them again. I waited for three years before I was finally made an offer which compensated my loss of earnings but there was no mention of my pension losses.

At this point, my wife’s cancer had come back and this time it was a brain tumour. She didn’t have long left, and I wanted to be around and make adaptations to our home. I didn’t want to take the offer, but we really needed the money.

The people affected by this scandal are old people, and nobody would want their loved ones to be treated like we have. When you are dealing with older or even terminally ill people, you shouldn’t be delaying things.

It’s like the Home Office is waiting for us all to die. And we haven’t done anything wrong, all we have done is help build this country up. We don’t deserve this.

I’ve heard so many excuses about why my pensions can’t be compensated, but I’m not backing down. If my pension can get compensated, then it’s a pathway for others facing the same problem. Most of us are in our 60’s and 70’s, so our pensions are really important to us.