Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the reasons for the discrepancy in the rise in the number of (a) claimants under the Windrush Compensation Scheme and (b) preliminary offers made in the year to the end of February 2022.

Those eligible under the terms of the scheme will receive a minimum Impact on Life payment of £10,000. This is paid as a new early preliminary payment, so people don’t have to wait for their whole claim to be assessed.

Within six weeks of eligibility for the Windrush Compensation Scheme being confirmed, an initial assessment of each claim is conducted to determine whether we can offer a preliminary award of £10,000.00, under the ‘Impact on Life’ category. In this initial assessment, we use the information and evidence provided to date, to determine whether, on the balance of probabilities, the claimant suffered detrimental impacts because they were unable to demonstrate their lawful status. We are constantly reviewing processes to ensure necessary information and evidence is available at the earliest point possible, including sign-posting individuals to We are Digital who provide support to submit applications to the Scheme.

This initial assessment does not represent a full assessment of the claim, and it does not mean a final decision about entitlement for compensation has been made. Claimants who do not initially receive a preliminary award offer will have the opportunity to provide further evidence for consideration of a preliminary award during the claim process.

Our intent is to ask for the minimum evidence necessary to reduce the burden on individuals, whilst maximising the offers we can make at the earliest possible point. We want people to get the maximum compensation to which they are entitled and will work with individuals to support them with this.