Home Office is at a ‘tipping point’ and must ‘make much more’ progress to bring about ‘cultural changes required’ or it risks another Windrush scandal, report warns
- Review in March 2020 found Windrush scandal was ‘foreseeable and avoidable’
- Thirty recommendations for improvement were subsequently put forward
- But just eight implemented and ‘next to no progress’ in further ‘seven or eight’
- Home Office criticised for ‘lack of tangible progress or drive’ in some areas
- Inspector warns department is at ‘tipping point’ and its next steps are ‘crucial’
The Home Office must change or it risks another Windrush scandal, an inspector has warned, as she criticised the government department for making ‘next to no progress’ on several recommendations she made two years ago.
An initial review in March 2020 found the scandal was ‘foreseeable and avoidable’ and victims had been let down by ‘systemic operational failings’ within the government department.
The report said the Home Office demonstrated ‘institutional ignorance and thoughtlessness’ towards the issue of race and the history of the Windrush generation.
Wendy Williams, an inspector at Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, subsequently set out 30 recommendations for improvement.
But in an assessment published today she found just eight recommendations have been implemented and there has been ‘next to no progress’ on a further ‘seven or eight’.
She also warned the Home Office was at ‘tipping point’ and its next steps were ‘crucial’.
Ms Williams said: ‘In some areas, the department has shown ambition and a commitment to taking forward my recommendations.
‘But in others I have been disappointed by the lack of tangible progress or drive to achieve the cultural changes required within a reasonable period to make them sustainable.
Home Secretary Priti Patel today said she has ‘laid the foundations for radical change’ within the Home Office
The former troop ship ‘Empire Windrush’ pictured as it arrived at Tilbury Docks in Essex in June 1948 with 450 Jamaicans aboard
A group of protesters gather on Westminster Bridge to mark the first official Windrush Day in June 2019
‘Much more progress is required in policy-making and casework, which will be seen as the major indicators of improvement.
‘The department is at a tipping point and the next stage will be crucial in determining whether it has the capacity and capability to make good on its ambitions “to build a Home Office fit for the future, one that serves every corner of society…[with] a long-term focus on wholesale and lasting cultural change”.’
The Windrush scandal erupted in 2018 when British citizens, mostly from the Caribbean, were wrongly detained, deported or threatened with deportation despite having the right to live in the UK.
Many resultantly lost their homes and jobs, and were denied access to healthcare and benefits.
Following its failings, the Home Office has since had to provide thousands of documents to more than 11,500 people confirming their immigration status or citizenship.
Ms Williams added: ‘I believe the department is potentially poised to make the significant changes it needs to.
‘But it must grasp the opportunity to implement the more fundamental recommendations that relate to producing: a more highly trained, developed and professional workforce; a department that is more comfortable engaging with the public and stakeholders on all issues of public policy – not just the uncontentious; an organisation that is more confident under the gaze of external scrutiny.
‘If the department fails to do this, it risks looking back on this seminal transformation programme as a missed opportunity.’
Ms WIlliams also warned the department ‘runs the risk of another incident – whatever it may be – occurring’.
She said today: ‘We only need to look at the various matters that the department is facing at home and abroad, which make it clear that it’s got to be alive to potential future risks.’
A demonstrator takes part in the annual Afrikan Emancipation Day Reparations march, in Brixton, London, in August last year
The report added that the Home Office is ‘undertaking an ambitious and significant transformation programme’ and the next stage is ‘crucial to the department’s cultural transition’.
The department can ‘maintain its momentum and drive the initiatives forward to achieve the systemic and cultural changes required’.
Alternatively, she said it can ‘settle for a situation where it loses impetus, direction and focus, in which event it runs the risk that it may only be a matter of time before it faces another “difficult outcome”, with all that that entails.’
Latest figures show the Home Office has paid out more than £37 million across 993 claims up to the end of February – out of a total 3,618 claims submitted to date.
Some 285 claims have been made for people who have already died and only 14 have currently resulted in payments so far.
Appeals have been made against decisions in almost 500 cases, while 636 eligible applicants were told they are not entitled to any money because their claims did not demonstrate they had been adversely affected by the scandal.
There have been 193 claims rejected on eligibility grounds.
Last week, another report found the Windrush compensation scheme – which offers payouts to victims affected by the scandal – has ‘structural weaknesses’ and needs reform so it can be ‘efficient and effective’.
Martin Levermore, the Government’s independent adviser on Windrush, acknowledged there had been criticism of the scheme from a ‘variety of quarters’ but said overall that it is ‘delivering’.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said: ‘I have laid the foundations for radical change in the department and a total transformation of culture.
‘We have already made significant progress and Wendy highlights many achievements, including the work we have put into becoming a more compassionate and open organisation.
‘Having said that, there is more to do and I will not falter in my commitment to everyone who was affected by the Windrush scandal.’
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