A reform of a “reckless” and “defensive” Home Office is expected to be recommended following an in-depth review of the causes of the Windrush scandal.
The report, Windrush Lessons Learned, which is due to be released tomorrow [20 March] is expected to be critical of the Home Office government ministers and staff, thanks to their continuous failure to admit the severity of their mistakes and the magnitude of the damage that was inflicted on thousands of legal UK residents as they were wrongly branded as illegal immigrants.
However, those involved in the preparation of the long-awaited report – which is believed to be several hundreds of pages long – have expressed concern about the timing of the publication. At a time where the attention of both the public and politicians alike are consumed by the coronavirus emergency, there are fears that the report will be overlooked.
Following 20 months of work, the report has been submitted to the Home Office by its author, Wendy Williams, an inspector of constabulary. Priti Patel, the country’s home secretary, then decided to release it rapidly as she is set to make a statement to the House of Commons on the review and its recommendations tomorrow morning.
As an early version of the report has been leaked to the Guardian, they reported that it “indicated that the true scale of the scandal may still remain hidden because many people affected have so little trust in the Home Office that they are scared to come forward.”
Since the scandal came to light, over 8,000 people have been granted the documentation that they rightly deserve, declaring that they’re living legally in the UK. As a result, a compensation scheme has been set up with a reported budget of between £200m and £570m. Despite the hefty budget, at the last count, only £62,198 had been paid out as it was shared among 36 victims.
Despite the lessons that should have been learned, the government resumed deportation flights just last month.
At the time, the Independent reported that those that were set to be flown back to Jamaica “feared for their lives on return to Kingston after ministers defending the flight claimed the crimes committed has been “serious offences” such as manslaughter and rape.” The publication also reported that “five people previously deported to Jamaica were killed shortly after their arrival.”