Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 15 April 2021 to Question 179170 on Windrush Generation: Compensation, notwithstanding that her Department does not routinely publish the information requested, how many applicants to the Windrush Compensation Scheme her Department is aware of who have died in the period between applying for and receiving compensation under that scheme.

It is very regrettable that a claimant passes away before a compensation award can be made or an apology sent to them.

The Windrush Compensation Scheme staff are working hard to ensure that where they are aware of claimants with critical or life shortening illnesses, that their cases are prioritised.

In the deeply unfortunate circumstances where a claimant has passed away after submitting a compensation claim, but before the claim is fully resolved, the team continues to work closely with the appointed representative, usually members of the family, to ensure the compensation payment is made as quickly as possible to that family member.

Out of the 1,996 applications made to the Windrush Compensation Scheme, we are aware of 21 cases to date where unfortunately the claimant has passed away after having submitted a claim but before receiving compensation. We are working closely with the families and legal representatives to determine the right person to whom the compensation can be paid as quickly as possible.

It must be noted that this data is manually recorded and is reliant on the person receiving the information on an applicant notifying the Windrush Compensation Scheme to record this information. The data isn’t recorded in a reportable field in the casework system.