Compensation promised to Windrush families who 'suffered loss'
Amber Rudd refuses to resign as Home Secretary as she reveals measures to stem the pressure on the govt over the Windrush scandal.
Monday 23 April 2018 21:14, UK
Windrush families who have "suffered loss" because of failures over their immigration status will receive compensation, it has been announced.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd promised to set up the reparation scheme "with urgency".
This measure and others were revealed after Ms Rudd faced calls to resign over her handling of the scandal.
She declared that "anyone from the Windrush who wants to become a British citizen will now be able to do so".
People who "made their lives here" but have since "retired to their country of origin" will be allowed to return to the UK.
Ms Rudd promised to waive "any fees associated with this process" and work with foreign embassies.
The group who "helped build this country" will also not be forced to take a test on their knowledge of language and life in Britain, she said.
And a new contact centre will be set up to advise people on complex immigration laws.
It will be staffed by experienced caseworkers who can "identify a systemic problem much more quickly in the future".
Labour's shadow equalities secretary Dawn Butler complained to Sky News on Sunday that the hotline set up to handle Windrush complaints was staffed by "inexperienced" people.
Ms Rudd admitted in response that "we were too slow to realise that there was a group of people who needed to be treated differently".
"We need to give a human face to how we work and exercise greater judgement where and when it is justified," she said.
But Ms Rudd continued to deflect blame over the scandal that has reportedly seen Windrush families denied NHS treatment and benefits, and threatened with deportation.
She said that "successive governments" had introduced measures to combat illegal immigration.
The SNP's Joanna Cherry branded Ms Rudd "a human shield" to "protect the Prime Minister from repugnant policies".
Labour's shadow home secretary Diane Abbott also said the scandal "was foreseeable and foreseen".
"It's important that the compensation is not a token sum of money but accurately reflects the actual costs and the damage to family life caused by this policy," she said.
:: Analysis: Theresa May is at the heart of Windrush scandal
Ms Rudd also faced cries to resign and laughter on the opposition benches for hailing the Home Office as "a great department of state".
MPs continued to raise cases of people being denied help, with Yvette Cooper saying she had been contacted the same day by the child of a Windrush migrant in Kenya who was turned away from the helpline.
The heated debated continued as Plaid Cymru's Liz Saville Roberts asked: "When does a hostile environment combined with implicit tolerance of austerity, workload fatigue and a culture of concealment become textbook institutional racism?"
Last week, Ms Rudd apologised for the "appalling" treatment of Windrush citizens and blamed officials in her own department.
"The Home Office has become too concerned with policy and strategy and sometimes loses sight of the individual," she said.
Mrs May later told leaders at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting that she was "genuinely sorry".