The Windrush Scandal: have lessons really been learnt?

In 2018 the UK government finally accepted that it had wrongly detained, deported and denied legal rights to Commonwealth citizens from the Caribbean, Africa, and Southern Asia in what is now known as the ‘Windrush scandal.’ A reparatory government scheme, including compensation, was set up to right the wrongs committed. The reparatory scheme has been extensively criticised in repeated independent reviews and there is a serious lack of access to justice.

The Windrush Justice Clinic (WJC) was set up in response to the Windrush scandal. It is a collaborative partnership between three universities, Community Law Centres and Community organisations. The WJC strives to help victims of the Windrush scandal receive the compensation they deserve.

In 2022, the WJC carried out research into unmet need for legal advice for people making claims under the Windrush Compensation Scheme (WCS). The research found that the process is too complex for claimants to claim compensation without legal advice, there are few sources of free accessible advice, and it is likely that there is significant unmet need. The paper will explore WCS in the context of the hostile environment, the WJC research findings and examine the compensation scheme through the lens of transitional justice reparations.