Windrush scandal: Telford meeting over campaign for compensation

The words of a leading campaigner, who addressed a Telford Windrush public meeting.

Reverend Dr Desmond Jaddoo was amongst high profile guests at the Windrush Movement UK meeting at Ketley Community Centre.

The Windrush scandal jeopardised the status of many who arrived in the UK from the Commonwealth after the Second World War.

People who had been born British subjects, particularly from Caribbean countries, were wrongly detailed or threatened with deportation. The aim of the meeting was to speak to those who needed advice and help in documenting their status in the UK and how to access compensation, if eligible.

Mr Jaddoo, chairman of Windrush Movement UK, said: “The purpose of the meetings is to get around communities and let people know about compensation claims for those who have been through suffering and hardship as a result of their status being challenged. People lost homes, jobs and family members.

“It can have such an impact on a family. We want people to know that compensation is there. We hope to redress the issues, it might not make anything better but it will try.

Determined

“These meetings will also be a safe environment where they can talk to the Home Office directly. If they qualify for compensation they will be assigned a case officer immediately. We are trying to ensure people are fully aware of what their rights are and ensure that any assistance that can be given is forthcoming to help them.

“The key element is helping people get sorted. We have an understanding with the Home Office that everyone who comes to the meeting goes home at the end of the night. It is a safe environment.”

Owen George Howell, 60, from Burton, Staffordshire, said he attended after hearing about the meeting held on Tuesday.

Mr Howell said he came to this country on his mother’s passport when he was two-years-old and had only just been granted his citizenship, 58 years later. He said the scandal caused him great distress and he had had to deal with the fear of being deported all his life.

“I came over from Jamaica in 1961 on my mother’s passport,” Mr Howell said.

“Everything went wrong in the 80s where work was concerned.

“When I needed to get full-time work, employers wanted a passport as ID, they wouldn’t take anything else, even though I had a national insurance number.

“I then became depressed and was on medication. It really set me back and left me with anxiety because I was always scared of being deported.”

Among those affected was Paulette Wilson, a Jamaica-born and Telford-raised grandmother, who was detained twice despite having been in the country from the age of 10. The Windrush Compensation Scheme was launched in April to provide payments to eligible individuals who did not have the right documentation to prove their status and suffered adverse effects on their life as a result.

Seema Kennedy, Immigration Minister, said: “We are determined to right the wrongs of successive Governments and that’s why our taskforce will travel to events across the country, giving hands-on advice and support.”

The meeting was the first in a series to take place over the next six to eight weeks across the West Midlands.