Money

Home Office accused of complacency over Windrush


A year after the Windrush scandal first emerged, MPs have warned that the Home Office is not doing enough to remedy the “appalling defects” in its immigration system that contributed to the wrongful deportation of Caribbean nationals.

A highly critical report, Parliament’s public accounts committee has accused the department of “shirking its responsibility” in putting right the wrongs suffered by individuals, and failing to “take ownership” for its mistakes in mistreating a generation of migrants.

Outrage erupted last year over the treatment of so-called Windrush group — Caribbean nationals who were denied access to services, detained or deported despite long-term residency in the UK — when it was revealed that those who arrived before 1973 were automatically granted indefinite leave to remain but not issued with any documents confirming their status.

The harsh treatment of the migrants raised new concerns about the “hostile environment” policy brought in during Theresa May’s tenure as home secretary, in an attempt to reduce the UK’s net migration figures.

The committee said the Home Office had shown a “belated flurry of activity” — including the establishment of a “Windrush task force” — which it said might help some migrants who had identified themselves as victims, but would not tackle the underlying weaknesses of the immigration system.

“Rather than taking full responsibility to resolve the problems it has caused, it is being complacent, neglecting to identify those affected and denying people support to rebuild their lives,” the report found.

Commenting on the study Meg Hillier, a Labour MP and chair of the committee, said there was a “long way to go before the Home Office can credibly claim to have put things right.”

“A supposedly ‘urgent’ hardship fund has taken eight months to set up; a planned compensation scheme is still not operating, and the Home Office could not tell us when it would be,” she said.

“It is deeply regrettable that a scandal of this magnitude, on the back of repeated and unheeded warnings, does not appear to have fully shaken the Home Office out of its complacency about its systemic and cultural problems,” Ms Hillier added.

The Home Office said that both the home secretary and immigration minister were “resolute in their determination” to right the wrongs experienced by the Windrush generation, and had commissioned a “lessons learned review” with independent oversight and scrutiny to establish what went wrong and prevent it happening again.

“The taskforce has helped thousands of people of different nationalities prove their status in the UK. Through the Windrush scheme 3,400 people have obtained British citizenship,” a spokesperson said.

“In addition, the task force has a dedicated vulnerable persons team which has provided support to over 600 people including referrals to the Department for Work and Pensions for benefit claims and advice and support on housing.”



READ SOURCE

Leave a Reply

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.