Victims Left Short Because Justice Had No Budget

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Article Title: “Windrush Shame: Victims Left Short Because Justice Had No Budget”
By @grassmonster

You’d be forgiven for thinking the Windrush Scandal had been cleaned up years ago. Government apologies were made. Ministers bowed their heads. Promises flowed like confetti at a crisis wedding.

But here’s the bitter truth: most victims still haven’t received fair compensation. And now we know why.

A new review has laid it bare – many of those affected by the scandal were denied legal advice when applying for their due. Without lawyers or advocates to help them navigate the bureaucratic swamp of forms, evidence, and rejection letters, they were left stranded. Alone. Penniless. Misled.

These are British citizens – many born in the Caribbean, invited here after the war to help rebuild the country – who were later told they were illegal, detained, or deported. They lost homes, jobs, healthcare. And when the time came to pay them back? We gave them forms and silence.

The Home Office’s compensation scheme, once heralded as a “new beginning,” has become a new insult. Low payouts, delayed payments, and rejections without reason. People died before seeing a penny. Others accepted meagre sums because they couldn’t fight back alone.

Only now, after furious campaigning, has the government agreed to set aside £1.5 million for legal advocacy. It’s better than nothing. But when compared to the damage done – it’s the sound of a cough in a hurricane.

The Windrush generation deserves more than tokenism. They deserve a legal system that works for them, not just against them. And they deserve it now – not after the next review, the next report, the next funeral.

This isn’t just a failure of law. It’s a failure of morality.

Author: @grassmonster
#WindrushJustice #LegalAidUK #CompensationReform #HomeOfficeFailures #HumanRightsUK #GrassmonsterReports