A New Government Group Has Been Created To "Right The Wrongs" Of The Windrush Scandal

In 2018, the Windrush Scandal broke, exposing over 70 years of wrongful detainment, threats of deportation, and denial of basic rights to British Black people Now a new Windrush Scandal group has been established to "right the wrongs" that the Windrush generation continue to face and to offer solutions, home secretary Priti Patel has said.

The group, which will be co-chaired by the home secretary and Bishop Derek Webley, will respond to the ‘Lessons Learned Review’, written by independent advisor Wendy Williams. Published in July 2018, the report assesses the events “leading up to the Windrush scandal (particularly from 2008 — March 2018) and to identify the key lessons for the Home Office,” an executive summary of the report reads.

Officials from dozens of departments across government will also sit in on the group, as the Guardian reports, including “No 10, the Home Office, the Department for Education, the Department of Health and Social Care, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department for Work and Pensions.”

“This group is crucial to delivering on our promise to right the wrongs experienced by the Windrush generation and it is right that we advance these issues in a constructive, sensitive, and responsible way,” Patel said in a statement published by the government. “We know that the best way to make sure we reach all those affected is by listening to them and hearing their voices, including how best to address the wider challenges that disproportionately affect those from BAME (Black, Asian, and minority ethinic) backgrounds.”

“This Working Group recognises that the work we’re doing can’t be done without the voices of the community,” Webley added, “and we will work with them and the government in finding a way forward that would meet the satisfaction of the Windrush community.”

This comes after figures released in March revealed that fewer than 5 percent of claims under the government’s Windrush compensation scheme have been paid. As the Guardian reports, of the “1,275 claims for compensation made so far, only 60 payments have been made, and 529 people have been waiting for more than a year.”

Addressing this and other issues the Windrush generation have and continue to face, the group will also “support the design and delivery of practical solutions to address the wider challenges that disproportionately affect people from Black and wider BAME backgrounds,” the government writes, which will also include “programmes on education, work and health” as well as advice and guidance “on the design and delivery of the Windrush Schemes Community Fund.”