Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Windrush Compensation Scheme claimants have rejected the awards of their Tier 2 review in each month from January 2020.

In response to questions UIN: 14566

Claimants can ask an MP to refer their Tier 2 review to the Parliamentary Ombudsman. If the Ombudsman decides to investigate the review, the Home Office and the Adjudicator’s Office will cooperate with their investigation.

In response to questions UIN: 14567

If an individual is dissatisfied with the outcome of their compensation claim, they can ask the Home Office to review its decision. The first stage of the review is a Tier 1; this will be an internal independent review by someone who has not been involved in the individual’s case.

The Tier 1 reviewer will review whether the decision was correct, which will include looking at whether:

• the rules, policy and guidance were applied correctly
• there was a mistake of fact
• the initial decision maker made the right judgement on the correct standard of proof
• all the available information and evidence was considered

Full guidance for the Tier 1 reviews process can be found here: Windrush Compensation Scheme (publishing.service.gov.uk)

In response to questions UIN: 14568

If an individual is dissatisfied with the outcome of their compensation claim, they can ask the Home Office to review its decision. The first stage of the review is a Tier 1, this will be an internal independent review by someone who has not been involved in the individual’s case.

If a claimant remains dissatisfied, they can then request a Tier 2 external independent review. Their claim will be looked at by the Adjudicator’s Office.

The Adjudicator’s Office is a separate organisation, independent of the Home Office, who can look at the validity and reasons for the decision, including whether the Department has followed its policies

While the Adjudicator’s Office falls within the same legal entity as the Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the Adjudicator is an office holder, not an employee nor an officer of HMRC, and is external to HMRC with the independent personal authority to review complaints.

In response to questions UIN: 14569

Data on the outcomes of (a) Tier 1 and (b) Tier 2 Windrush Compensation Scheme reviews, can be found here: Windrush Compensation Scheme data: April 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

In response to questions UIN: 14570

The Home Office has no published data to answer these questions. The information is not readily available in a reportable format nor held centrally and could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.