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Windrush: at least five who applied for compensation die before receiving it

<span>Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA</span>
Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

At least five people have died before receiving the Windrush compensation they had applied for, the government has revealed, reigniting concern about the slowness of the scheme.

No details were revealed about who these individuals were, but the figures appear to come in addition to a number of people interviewed by the Guardian, who died before they were even able to file a compensation claim.

Responding to a parliamentary question put by Labour MP Thangam Debbonaire, the home secretary, Priti Patel, wrote that she was “aware of five unfortunate cases to date where the claimant has passed away after having submitted a claim but before receiving compensation”. Patel added that the heirs or representatives of the deceased would be able to receive the compensation.

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“It is hugely 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,” she wrote.

“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.”

News of these deaths will heighten concern over the delays in compensating Windrush victims, who arrived in the UK as children in the 1950s and 1960s, and who found themselves wrongly classified as illegal immigrants and facing difficulties with employment, housing and travel once a series of hostile environment policies were introduced by the government when Theresa May was home secretary. Most of those affected are in their 60s and 70s or older.

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As at the end of March, which is when the last figures were released, 1,275 claims for compensation had been submitted but just 60 payments had been made, fewer than 5% of the total. Only around £360,000 had been paid out of a compensation pot that officials estimated could be required to pay out up to £500m.

Sarah O’Connor, Hubert Howard and Richard Stewart, who spoke to the Guardian about the difficulties they had had after being classified as immigration offenders, all died before they were even able to file compensation claims, as did Joshua Moses and Eddie Lindsay. The government has also previously acknowledged that at least 13 people who were wrongly removed from the UK died before the government was able to inform them that a mistake had been made, and that they were free to return home.

Yvette Cooper, the chair of the home affairs select committee, expressed anger at the news of the deaths. “We have warned the government repeatedly that delays in Windrush compensation mean that some of those who faced terrible injustice will have died before ever seeing a payment made. That is now compounding the distress and injustice for those families. The Home Office must urgently sort out the delays in the compensation Scheme to ensure that the Windrush generation finally get justice.”

There have also been delays to sorting out the nationality documents for those affected by the scandal. In April Patel revealed that there were 3,720 outstanding cases with the Windrush taskforce, the body set up to consider applications from people who believe they were wrongly categorised as immigration offenders.

Patel revealed that 1,111 of these cases have yet to be considered, while the others are still under review. More than 150 people have been waiting for longer than six months, and 35 people have spent over a year waiting for a response.

During a home affairs select committee hearing last week MPs highlighted concerns about the slowness of the scheme, and questioned the new Home Office permanent secretary, Matthew Rycroft, on whether this might be down to the high evidential burden placed on claimants who are asked to provide information to prove the ways in which they had suffered “beyond reasonable doubt” before Home Office staff will clear payments.

Labour’s Diane Abbott, who sits on the committee, expressed frustration at the scheme’s slowness. “I know the Windrush cohort. They are my parents’ cohort, they are an ageing cohort. What concerns them and the people who are working with them is while you take your time there will be persons who in the end will not get the compensation they are entitled to because they have in fact passed away.”