Home Office Windrush Support: Awareness raising - are people missing out?

Jon Kelly, Stakeholder Manager for the Home Office Windrush Support Team, shares information with Edinburgh Advice Network members on the Windrush as part of an awareness raising campaign due to concerns there could still be many eligible people who have not yet claimed. Workshops can also be offered, if there is demand, we can organise one for EAN- please let us know if you/your organisation would be interested.

Windrush Schemes and basic eligibility

1) The Windrush Documentation Scheme helps people who arrived and settled in the UK before legal status documents were officially issued or legally required (usually before 1988). This free service enables people impacted to obtain the documentation they need to prove their right to live and work in the UK.

2) The Windrush Compensation Scheme provides financial redress to individuals who suffered losses because they were unable to prove their lawful status in the UK. Losses can include employment barriers, access to housing or healthcare, banking, immigration detention, or wider impacts such as distress or hardship. The scheme has no closing date.

You may be eligible if:

• You came to the UK from a Commonwealth country and settled before 1973, or

• Your parent came to the UK from a Commonwealth country and settled before 1973, or

• You came to the UK from any country before 31 December 1988 and are now settled, or

• You are a close family member of someone eligible and have experienced significant losses as a result of their status issues, or

• You are representing the estate of someone who would have been eligible

  
  

To receive compensation, eligible applicants must show how being unable to prove their right to live in the UK caused specific losses or impacts. The Home Office will review evidence and check records across departments to support the claim.

The Windrush Team can send out hard copies of posters and fliers, and are also offering workshops which where they can go deeper into scheme criteria and equip staff or volunteers with the knowledge and confidence to support individuals with form filling and more detailed queries.

Contact Jon at jonathan.kelly5@homeoffice.gov.uk for more information or to request materials. If you would be interested in an EAN organised session please reach out to the Advice Network Coordinator at joanne.baldock@capitalcitypartnership.org to note interest.

Further information: www.gov.uk/windrushhelpteam 

Helpline: 0800 678 1925

Windrush Scheme Poster PDF (see also the JPEG version below)

Windrush Poster PROOF v4.0.pdf

Download PDF • 2.70MB