Correspondence

Update to the HASC on Windrush: 22 October 2019 (accessible version)

Updated 16 September 2020

Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP
Chair, Home Affairs Select Committee
House of Commons
London
SW1A 4AA

22 October 2019

Dear Yvette,

Please see below update on the work of my department in relation to Windrush, in line with the commitments my predecessor has previously made to your Committee. This update reflects the status as at 30 September 2019, and provides further detail on:

• The work of the Taskforce
• The Historical Cases Review
• The Windrush Compensation Scheme

The Work of the Taskforce

In total, under both the initial arrangements put in place prior to the establishment of the Windrush Scheme (Table 2), and under the Windrush Scheme itself (Table 6), 8,124 individuals have been granted some form of documentation by the Taskforce.

The reason this figure is different from the sum of Table 2 and Table 6 is because some of those who applied under the initial arrangements went on to submit a successful application for citizenship under the Windrush Scheme.

I have also provided further detail below on the work of the Taskforce, covering the following areas:

• Initial regularisation of status process
• The Windrush Scheme – in-country applications
• The Windrush Scheme – overseas applications
• Refusals under the Windrush Scheme
• Publication of revised Windrush Scheme and Guidance
• Support to vulnerable individuals and those experiencing hardship
• Urgent and exceptional support

Initial regularisation of status process

On 16 April 2018, the Home Office established a Taskforce to ensure that members of the Windrush generation could evidence their right to be in the UK. This section provides details relating to this immediate Home Office response to Windrush. The data provided covers:

• Individuals contacting the Taskforce and called back by a caseworker
• Individuals given documentation confirming their status
• Nationality of those given documentation confirming their status
• Date of arrival in the UK
• Decision timeliness

Some figures for April 2018 to April 2019 have changed slightly since the last update, because of the normal process of assuring records on the Casework Information Database, which is a live operational system. There may be more adjustments in future as a result of further assurance work. I have included these figures in italics to make clear where these slight changes have occurred.

Table 1: Call-back referrals

Call and email volumes have continued to reduce significantly and there have been no new Windrush cases contacting the helpline, for applications under the interim arrangements, since November. As such I have removed the table from this update.

Table 2: Individuals given documentation confirming status

The following tables refer to individuals referred to a UK Premium Service Centre after contacting the Windrush Taskforce, and who have been issued with documentation to confirm their right to remain in the UK. Documentation confirming status includes people given Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) and No Time Limit (NTL). Data is broken down by date, by nationality and by date of arrival in the UK. This data comes from the Casework Information Database.

Month	Number of individuals given documentation confirming status
April-18	139
May-18	1,284
June-18	698
July-18	169
August-18	113
September-18	28
October-18	9
November-18	8
December-18	5
January-19	6
February-19	1
March-19	3
April-19	5
May-19	10
June-19	9
July-19	6
August-19	2
September-19	4
Total	2,499

Some of the people helped by the Taskforce are excluded from this data, such as those people who attended a Premium Service Centre appointment but for whom it was confirmed that they already held the necessary documentation, or those who went on to submit a successful application for citizenship under the Windrush Scheme before they had been issued with ILR or NTL documentation.

Table 3: Nationality of those given documentation confirming status

The Committee will note that two of the individuals in this table are British citizens. These are people who approached the Taskforce to request confirmation of their status, and were issued with a document to confirm their British nationality.

Nationality	Arrived before 1 January 1973	Arrived after 31 December 1972	Family Member	Not recorded	Grand Total
Antigua & Barbuda	6	2	0	0	8
Aruba	2	0	0	0	2
Australia	21	10	0	0	31
Bahamas	0	1	0	0	1
Bangladesh	3	4	0	0	7
Barbados	199	26	10	0	235
British Citizen	3	1	0	0	4
‘British Person Overseas’*	11	1	2	0	14
Brunei Darussalam	1	0	0	0	1
Burma (Myanmar)	1	1	1	0	3
Cameroon	0	1	0	0	1
Canada	39	4	0	0	43
Curacao	1	0	0	0	1
Cyprus	2	2	0	0	4
Denmark	1	0	0	0	1
Dominica	59	7	1	0	67
Dominican Republic	1	1	1	0	3
France	2	0	0	0	2
Gambia	0	2	1	0	3
Germany	1	0	0	0	1
Ghana	7	5	3	0	15
Grenada	77	18	5	0	100
Guadeloupe	3	0	0	0	3
Guyana	61	14	2	0	77
India	81	23	3	0	107
Ireland	1	0	0	0	1
Jamaica	1,040	110	52	0	1,202
Kenya	13	5	0	0	18
Libya	1	0	0	0	1
Malawi	0	1	0	0	1
Malaysia	12	18	0	0	30
Malta	9	0	0	0	9
Mauritius	10	5	2	0	17
Morocco	0	1	0	0	1
New Zealand	12	10	1	0	23
Nigeria	49	14	5	0	68
Pakistan	13	9	0	0	22
Philippines	0	1	0	0	1
Seychelles	2	0	1	0	3
Sierra Leone	6	7	2	0	15
Singapore	3	2	0	0	5
South Africa	7	4	0	0	11
Sri Lanka	4	2	0	0	6
Stateless Person (Article 1 of 1954 Convention)	1	0	0	0	1
St Kitts & Nevis	23	3	3	0	29
St.Lucia	62	7	6	0	75
St Vincent & the Grenadines	74	8	4	0	86
Trinidad & Tobago	78	18	2	0	98
Uganda	7	4	0	0	11
United Rep of Tanzania	4	3	0	0	7
United States of America	6	3	1	0	10
Unspecified Nationality	1	0	1	0	2
Zambia	0	3	0	0	3
Zimbabwe	3	4	2	0	9
Grand Total	2,023	365	111	0	2,499

*‘British person overseas’ includes: British National (Overseas), British Overseas Citizen, British Overseas Territories Citizen, British Protected Person, British Subject.

Table 4: Date of arrival in the UK

This table shows whether individuals given documentation arrived in the UK before or on 1 January 1973 or later, based on evidence gathered and recorded by the Taskforce.

Month	Arrived before 1 January 1973	Arrived after 31 December 1972	Family Member	Not recorded	Total
Apr-18	120	15	4	0	139
May-18	1,071	155	58	0	1,284
Jun-18	554	114	30	0	698
Jul-18	129	29	11	0	169
Aug-18	85	24	4	0	113
Sep-18	22	6	0	0	28
Oct-18	8	1	0	0	9
Nov-18	6	2	0	0	8
Dec-18	2	3	0	0	5
Jan-19	4	2	0	0	6
Feb-19	1	0	0	0	1
Mar-19	0	1	2	0	3
Apr-19	0	5	0	0	5
May-19	8	2	0	0	10
Jun-19	5	3	1	0	9
Jul-19	2	3	1	0	6
Aug-19	2	0	0	0	2
Sep-19	4	0	0	0	4
Total	2,023	365	111	0	2,499

Table 5: Decision timeliness

This table shows the time taken for decisions for those given documentation based on the time between biometric enrolment and the date of the decision being despatched. Biometric enrolment is a key part of the evidence gathering process, which normally occurs at the individual’s first appointment at the Premium Service Centre. The Taskforce aims to complete the decision-making process within two weeks of all the evidence being gathered. Usually this will be from the point that biometrics are taken, although in some cases further evidence is supplied by the applicant or other sources after this point. Some decisions will fall outside these timescales due to their complexity.

Numbers of decisions have continued to reduce as we move through the outstanding applications made before the Windrush Scheme launch. These outstanding cases were more complex cases which required more detailed information gathering before we could issue documentation to the individuals, hence a greater number of these decisions took longer than two weeks.

Month	Decided within 2 weeks of biometric enrolment	Decided beyond 2 weeks of biometric enrolment	Total (by Month)
Apr-18	139	0	139
May-18	1,259	25	1,284
Jun-18	585	113	698
Jul-18	15	154	169
Aug-18	4	109	113
Sep-18	4	24	28
Oct-18	3	6	9
Nov-18	0	8	8
Dec-18	1	4	5
Jan-19	0	6	6
Feb-19	0	1	1
Mar-19	0	3	3
Apr-19	0	5	5
May-19	0	10	10
Jun-19	0	9	9
Jul-19	0	6	6
Aug-19	1	1	2
Sep-19	0	4	4
Total	2,011	488	2,499

The Windrush Scheme – in-country applications

On 24 May 2018, the then Home Secretary, laid a Written Ministerial Statement setting out the Windrush Scheme, which ensures that members of this generation, their children born in the UK and those who arrived in the UK as minors will be able to apply for citizenship, or various other immigration products, free of charge. The Scheme came into force on 30 May 2018.

The following section includes information on:

• Number of individuals granted citizenship or NTL/ILR under the Scheme
• Nationality of individuals granted citizenship or NTL/ILR under the Scheme
• Date of arrival in the UK
• Refusals under the Windrush Scheme

Table 6: Number of individuals granted citizenship or NTL/ILR under the Scheme

Number of individuals granted citizenship or NTL/ILR	Number of individuals granted citizenship	Number of individuals granted NTL/ILR
0	0	0
589	586	3
901	869	32
790	660	130
382	294	88
529	409	120
490	353	137
334	225	109
451	268	183
246	168	78
411	216	195
451	225	226
417	221	196
341	175	166
427	213	214
237	141	96
309	151	158
7,305	5,174	2,131

Table 7: Nationality of individuals granted citizenship or NTL/ILR under the Scheme

There are 100 British citizens included in this table. These are individuals who approached the Taskforce to request confirmation of their status, and were issued with a document to confirm their British nationality.

Nationality	Arrived before 1 January 1973	Arrived after 31 December 1972	Family Member	Not recorded	Grand Total
Antigua & Barbuda	13	0	6	0	19
Aruba	3	0	0	0	3
Australia	122	27	16	0	165
Austria	7	3	0	0	10
Bahamas	2	0	0	0	2
Bangladesh	31	25	11	0	67
Barbados	364	23	24	0	411
Belgium	3	4	1	0	8
Belize	0	2	2	0	4
Benin	1	0	0	0	1
Brazil	1	0	0	0	1
British Citizen	43	9	52	0	104
‘British Person Overseas’*	44	8	7	0	59
Brunei Darussalam	1	0	0	0	1
Burma (Myanmar)	8	0	1	0	9
Cameroon	0	1	0	0	1
Canada	161	32	5	0	198
Cape Verde	0	1	0	0	1
Chile	2	6	0	0	8
China	2	1	0	0	3
Curacao	3	0	0	0	3
Cyprus	19	4	3	0	26
Democratic Republic of the Congo	0	1	0	0	1
Denmark	10	4	0	0	14
Dominica	109	11	4	0	124
Dominican Republic	4	0	2	0	6
Egypt	0	1	0	0	1
Ethiopia	0	0	2	0	2
Fiji	2	1	0	0	3
Finland	10	2	2	0	14
France	33	18	10	0	61
Gambia	1	0	2	0	3
Germany	56	17	6	0	79
Ghana	35	28	20	0	83
Greece	4	1	2	0	7
Grenada	145	24	17	0	186
Guadeloupe	3	0	0	0	3
Guyana	92	18	7	0	117
Honduras	0	1	0	0	1
India	824	216	63	0	1,103
Iran (Islamic Republic of)	2	3	3	0	8
Iraq	1	1	0	0	2
Ireland	6	1	1	0	8
Israel	1	0	0	0	1
Italy	408	45	22	0	475
Jamaica	1,955	179	184	0	2,318
Japan	1	2	1	0	4
Kenya	25	10	3	0	38
Lesotho	0	1	0	0	1
Liberia	0	0	1	0	1
Libya	1	0	0	0	1
Malawi	2	1	0	0	3
Malaysia	67	35	18	0	120
Malta	92	15	9	0	116
Mauritius	18	6	4	0	28
Morocco	3	1	0	0	4
Namibia	0	1	0	0	1
Nationality Currently Unknown	1	0	0	0	1
Netherlands	24	13	2	0	39
New Zealand	40	19	10	0	69
Nigeria	85	35	30	0	150
Norway	0	1	0	0	1
Pakistan	39	21	9	0	69
Panama	0	2	0	0	2
Papua New Guinea	0	0	1	0	1
Philippines	0	1	1	0	2
Poland	0	0	1	0	1
Portugal	6	0	2	0	8
Refugee - Article 1 of the 1951 Convention	1	0	0	0	1
Seychelles	2	2	1	0	5
Sierra Leone	15	4	6	0	25
Singapore	8	9	1	0	18
Slovenia	0	0	1	0	1
Somalia	1	0	0	0	1
South Africa	23	8	3	0	34
Spain	34	8	8	0	50
Sri Lanka	8	2	1	0	11
Stateless Person (Article 1 of 1954 Convention)	1	0	0	0	1
St Christopher & Nevis	2	0	0	0	2
St Kitts & Nevis	30	0	5	0	35
St.Lucia	131	10	24	0	165
St Vincent & the Grenadines	131	13	15	0	159
Sweden	9	4	2	0	15
Switzerland	1	2	2	0	5
Thailand	0	1	0	0	1
Tonga	1	0	0	0	1
Trinidad & Tobago	155	28	9	0	192
Turkey	3	2	1	0	6
Turkish controlled area of Cyprus	0	0	1	0	1
Uganda	16	3	1	0	20
Ukraine	1	0	0	0	1
United Rep of Tanzania	7	2	0	0	9
United States of America	43	29	10	0	82
Unspecified Nationality	11	4	29	1	45
Uruguay	0	0	1	0	1
Uzbekistan	0	1	0	0	1
Venezuela	1	0	0	0	1
Vietnam	0	1	0	0	1
Zambia	1	2	2	0	5
Zimbabwe	7	13	6	0	26
Grand Total	5,578	1,030	696	1	7,305

*‘British person overseas’ includes: British National (Overseas), British Overseas Citizen, British Overseas Territories Citizen, British Protected Person, British Subject.

Table 8: Date of arrival in the UK

Month	Arrived before 1 January 1973	Arrived after 31 December 1972	Family Member	Not recorded	Total
May-18	0	0	0	0	0
Jun-18	530	31	28	0	589
Jul-18	789	35	77	0	901
Aug-18	665	83	42	0	790
Sep-18	306	58	18	0	382
Oct-18	426	72	31	0	529
Nov-18	357	93	40	0	490
Dec-18	237	69	28	0	334
Jan-19	301	102	48	0	451
Feb-19	180	50	16	0	246
Mar-19	287	80	44	0	411
Apr-19	298	73	80	0	451
May-19	288	58	71	0	417
Jun-19	237	43	61	0	341
Jul-19	299	72	56	0	427
Aug-19	168	47	22	0	237
Sep-19	210	64	34	1	309
Total	5,578	1,030	696	1	7,305

The Windrush Scheme – overseas applications

Since the launch of the Windrush Scheme, the Taskforce has also received applications from overseas, albeit in smaller volumes than from people in the UK. We continue to work through these applications, and the following table details the types of documentation granted to date:

Table 9: Overseas applications

Period	Granted Right of Abode	Granted Returning Residents Visa	Granted Visit Visa	Granted LOTR	Application Withdrawn	Total
May 2018 to September 2019	27	111	37	1	42	218

Table 10: Overseas grants by nationality

The breakdown of nationalities granted overseas is as follows:

Nationality	May 2018 – September 2019
Bahamas Bangladesh Barbados	1 1 5
Canada	5
Cyprus	1
Dominica	1
Germany	1
Ghana	5
Grenada	2
Guyana	4
India	4
Jamaica Kenya	82 1
Malta	1
New Zealand	1
Nigeria	31
Pakistan Sierra Leone South Africa	1 1 2
St Lucia	13
St Vincent	1
Trinidad and Tobago	8
United States	4
Total	176

Refusals under the Windrush Scheme

Table 11: Refusals under the Windrush scheme

	Applied in the UK	Applied Overseas	Total
Refusals to 30 September 2019	1,501	7,783	9,284

The Committee will note there has been a significant increase in refusals from overseas applicants. Given the Windrush Scheme enables an individual to apply for settlement in the United Kingdom from overseas without a fee, unfortunately, it has attracted a series of without merit or ineligible claims. Nevertheless, as outlined in earlier updates, by the then Home Secretary, none of the refusal decisions have been made lightly, and all of them have had lengthy and detailed consideration. The decision to refuse in these cases has been checked and challenged extensively at operational level and, until 5 August, were approved at Ministerial level. Given the increase in claims wholly without merit then, since 5 August, refusals have been approved at Senior Civil Servant level. Policy experts have been engaged to ensure that all refusals are in line with our policies and guidance.

Table 12: Refusal breakdown of those who applied in the UK to 30 September 2019

Refuse ILR/NTL: 856 Refuse Citizenship (criminality/good character): 235 Refuse Citizenship (other): 410 Grand Total: 1,501

There has been interest in the reasons for refusals of cases, particularly those refusals for individuals who have applied from within the UK and have been refused on good character or criminality grounds. Clearly, we cannot detail reasons for individual refusals, but Table 12 provides a breakdown of the types of refusals, and to the end of September 235 individuals have been refused on good character or criminality grounds.

Table 13: Reviews of refusals under the Windrush Scheme

Any individuals who receive refusal notifications have the right to request a free review, which will be undertaken by an experienced member of staff in the Chief Casework Unit. This team is entirely independent of the teams responsible for initial decision-making and can provide additional assurance that decisions are correct. New information may be provided by the applicant, or otherwise identified, during the review. This can lead to an overturned decision. We are learning lessons from cases that have been overturned, to further improve our processes. The following table outlines the progress of these reviews, as at 30 September 2019:

Period	Requests for review of refusal	Review in progress	Decision upheld	Decision overturned
To end September 2019	264	38	223	3

I will continue to provide updates on these cases.

Outstanding Applications

We have previously been asked how many Taskforce applications are outstanding. The number of outstanding cases with the Windrush Taskforce at the end of September was 4,654. Of these, 3,717 were individuals that are currently in the UK and the remaining 937 are individuals overseas. Of these cases, 3,396 have been submitted in the last six months and, given their profile, we expect a significant number to be without merit. The remaining cases are more complex and the Taskforce continues to work hard to resolve these, 261 of them are over a year old, and the remaining 997 are between six months and a year old.

Support to vulnerable individuals and those experiencing hardship

The Taskforce has a dedicated Vulnerable Persons Team (VPT) to provide help and advice where safeguarding and vulnerability issues are identified. Whilst all members of the Taskforce are equipped to identify, handle and offer support to vulnerable customers, the VPT was established to ensure that those in most urgent need could obtain support and advice via a single point of contact within the Taskforce. The VPT has had notable success in resolving individual issues and building trust. This has been reflected in the feedback provided to the team by those who have received assistance.

To the end of September, the VPT has provided support to 987 individuals with 91 cases ongoing. They continue to receive approximately nine new referrals each week. The VPT have made 361 referrals to DWP in relation to fresh claims and reinstatement of benefits, with 252 individuals given advice and support on issues relating to housing.

Urgent and exceptional support

The policy for support in urgent and exceptional circumstances, setting out the approach and decision-making process for these cases was published on 17 December. The scheme has a very clear purpose to provide support to members of the Windrush cohort who have an urgent and exceptional need, and compelling reasons why this could not wait for the full compensation scheme.

The intention was that the policy would only stay in place until the compensation scheme was operational, at which point the policy would be reviewed.

For now, the urgent and exceptional support policy remains in place and we continue to consider applications for assistance under that policy.

The majority of requests for urgent and exceptional support received have been concluded. Some cases will remain under consideration where the Taskforce is awaiting further information from claimants. The Taskforce is working closely with individuals who have submitted requests in order to assess their current circumstances and gather the necessary evidence to support the urgency of their claim.

I would like to emphasise that all these cases have had full and detailed consideration. Any decision made in these cases has been checked and challenged extensively at operational level and been approved a senior official level.

The following table details the status of claims under the policy, as at 30 September:

Period	Requests for support	Under consideration	Approved	Declined	Withdrawn
To end September 2019	118	14	23	73	8

In addition to these figures, and as set out in the annex to the monthly report dated 17 December, three exceptional payments for flights to return to the UK were made before the official launch of the policy on 17 December.

The urgent and exceptional support policy is just one way in which we help individuals. Our primary mechanism to support those in need is the Vulnerable Persons Team.

Historical cases review

In August last year, my predecessor wrote to the Committee with the provisional results of the historical review of 11,800 individuals of Caribbean Commonwealth nationality, born before 1 January 1973, who have been removed and / or detained by the Home Office since 2002. The review sought to identify individuals where there was an indication in their record that they could have been in the UK before 1973. This review identified 164 individuals whose details were passed to the Taskforce so that they could contact them. We have now traced 141 of these individuals. These individuals either already have status, are now in contact with the Taskforce or, in the case of 24 individuals, are deceased. The Taskforce is continuing to work proactively with partners in the UK and overseas to obtain contact details for the remaining individuals, and to make contact.

Of the 164 individuals, 83 were removed. As with previous updates to the Committee, I would also like to provide an update on the contact we have made with 55 of these individuals.

• These 55 individuals are a subset of the overall total of 141 individuals with whom we have contact .
• 14 individuals within the 83 are unfortunately deceased.
• There are a further 14 individuals with whom we have so far been unable to make contact, despite attempting to do so in a number of different ways. For example, where the Home Office does not hold any current contact details, we have contacted the Department for Work and Pensions and HMRC to see if their records confirm a current footprint in the UK or whether a pension from overseas is being received. We have also worked with the relevant British High Commissions to try and make contact with those who may be living overseas.

Of the 55 individuals with whom we have made contact, their current status is as follows.

Status of individuals removed from the UK, with whom the Home Office has made contact:

Current status of individuals contacted
Indefinite Leave to Remain/other Leave to remain granted by the Taskforce	11
10-year visitor visa granted by the Taskforce	5
Right of Abode / Citizenship granted by the Taskforce	11
Will be submitting an application under the Windrush Scheme Awaiting decision	9 12
Confirmed they will not be making an application	7
Total	55

In the earlier update to the Committee, the then Home Secretary provided a breakdown of the 164 people identified in the historical review who have been removed and / or detained by the Home Office since 2002. This included the year of removal, type of removal, the nationality of the individual involved and the country to which they were returned. Following additional assurance work, I am providing revised breakdowns below, with some amendments to the year of action.

Year	Enforced Return	Verified Return	Voluntary Departure	Port Removal	Total
2002		1			1
2003				2	2
2004					0
2005				3	3
2006	1	5	1	2	9
2007		2	2	4	8
2008		2	1	1	4
2009		5	2	1	8
2010		2	2	2	6
2011	1	2	1	2	6
2012		4		2	6
2013		4		4	8
2014		1	4	2	7
2015		3	2	2	7
2016		4	2	2	8
Total	2	35	17	29	83

83 removals (out of 164)

112 detentions (out of 164)

Year of detention	Immigration Removal Centre Detention	Police station detention	Port Detention	Total
2002	1			1
2003	1		2	3
2004			1	1
2005	2		7	9
2006	1		5	6
2007			9	9
2008			6	6
2009			11	11
2010			6	6
2011	3		6	9
2012		1	8	9
2013	2		7	9
2014			9	9
2015	1		9	10
2016	1		6	7
2017	2		5	7
Total	14	1	97	112

Compliant Environment sanctions

The review of compliant environment sanctions identified 55 individuals who have had action taken against them/a sanction applied following proactive data sharing by the department and whose records indicate they could have been in the UK before 1973.

Of the 55 individuals there are 46 whose records indicate they were in the UK before 1973 and that they stayed here permanently but were unable to demonstrate their continuous residence. These individuals are therefore most likely to have suffered detriment because their right to be in the UK was not recognised which led to sanctions being applied to them. My predecessor sent apology letters to those 46 individuals or, in the case of those who have deceased, to their families. I intend to do the same if we establish contact for the three that do not have status that have not yet been in contact with the department. We continue to make every effort to get in touch with them.

Current status of the 55 cohort
Limited leave to remain non-Taskforce	2
Existing non-Windrush status	9
Pending consideration	2
Granted naturalisation by Taskforce Granted NTL/LTR by Taskforce	29 6
Granted ILR by Taskforce Deceased No status no contact Total	2 2 3 55

My predecessor wrote to seven of the ten individuals who had been held in some form of detention. Four of the ten have status and a further one has been in contact with my department. The remaining five do not have status and have not been in contact. We are making every effort to contact them.

Current status of the 10 cohort:

Granted naturalisation by Taskforce: 2 Granted NTL/ILR by Taskforce: 1 Existing non-Windrush status: 1 No status no contact: 4 In contact no status: 2 Total: 10

Windrush Compensation Scheme

The launch and delivery of the compensation scheme is an important step in righting the wrongs experienced by some members of the Windrush generation who had difficulties demonstrating their lawful right to live in the UK.

The Home Office has been involved in delivering 17 public engagement events across the UK and attended further events to promote and provide information on the Compensation Scheme and how to submit a claim. It is important to note that the scheme goes beyond members of the Caribbean Commonwealth.

We have held productive Roundtables with key stakeholders, including the Windrush Commemorative Committee, together with Civil Society groups, who are working with communities that have been directly affected.

We will continue to take a proactive stance, delivering events to engage and promote both the compensation scheme and the wider work of the Commonwealth citizens taskforce. Over the next year, events will be held in Lewisham, Wolverhampton, Liverpool, Sandwell, Leeds and Southwark, The Home Office is also attending some events in partnership with, and arranged by external partners, in Telford, Ilford, Stoke-upon-Trent and Essex. Full details are available on GOV.UK.

An independent claims assistance service is operating to support vulnerable claimants and others who face challenges in making a claim by themselves. This assistance is offered through Citizens Advice and is an entirely bespoke service tailored to meet the needs of potential claimants.

Detailed information about the compensation scheme, including the rules that govern the scheme, with the forms and guidance that people need to make a claim, are available on GOV.UK. The helpline can be contacted on 0800 678 1925 for those wishing to receive printed copies of the claim form or for any other queries and is free if calling from within the UK.

The Committee will note that on 4 July 2019 that my predecessor wrote to the Permanent Secretary to provide a Ministerial Direction to make payments under the compensation scheme ahead of passing specific legislation to ensure the regularity of the payments. That letter can be found on GOV.UK

On 14 October the Government announced it will be bringing forward a Windrush Compensation Scheme (Expenditure) Bill in the current Parliamentary session.

We are processing cases and making payments to claimants. We will publish regular data on the number of claims and amounts paid, commencing in November.

Yours sincerely,

Rt Hon Priti Patel MP