Windrush scandal: Caps on compensation are 'final betrayal' and should be scrapped, says David Lammy

The Home Office has been urged to remove caps on the Windrush compensation scheme - something campaigners say is the "final betrayal" of those affected by the scandal.

David Lammy accused the Home Secretary of providing “false reassurances” to victims after it emerged the department had set out fixed sums on how much money can be awarded for different losses.

The Labour MP said this was “misleading” because, when launching the scheme, Sajid Javid implied that there were no caps and that it would be “based on people’s needs”.

An estimated 500,000 people now living in the UK who arrived between 1948 and 1971 from countries in the Commonwealth, including the Caribbean, have been called the Windrush generation, in reference to a ship which brought workers to the UK in 1948.

They were granted indefinite leave to remain in 1971 but thousands were children travelling on their parents' passports, without their own documents. Some later encountered difficulties proving their entitlement to live in the UK. Some were held in detention or removed despite living in the country for decades, resulting in a furious backlash over their treatment.

The guidelines state that victims will receive a fixed tariff of £500 if they were blocked from attending university, £500 if they were denied NHS healthcare and just £200 if they were unable to access banking services as a result of the scandal

But lawyers told The Independent last week the suggestion there was no cap was a “false dawn” because, in a separate document which was not widely publicised, it states that victims will receive fixed tariffs for different losses.

For example, a claimant would receive £500 if they were denied NHS healthcare, £200 if they were unable to access banking services and £10,000 if they were deported as a result of the scandal.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr Lammy said: “£10,000 is less than one secretary of state's salary per month. Is this all that you’ve lost if you’ve been locked up, if you’ve been deported, if you’ve been made homeless?

“Is this all it costs someone to be denied access to their family and friends for years and decades from their own country? Is this the price you put on my constituents being deported for no wrongdoing and nothing they have themselves done? Is this how the government values the lives of black Britons?

He added: “Let this be the final betrayal of the Windrush generation. Scrap the caps and compensate them properly for the wrongs that have been done to them.”

Responding to his comments, immigration minister Caroline Nokes said the different heads of claim in the compensation scheme "need not be in the singular but can be cumulative".

She added: "There also is a discretionary category which will enable people to claim for other losses not necessarily identified within the scheme which is uncapped. Whilst there is a tariff set at £10,000 for somebody who was wrongly deported, that could be in conjunction with other parts of a claim which could add up to significant sums in addition to that.”

Mr Javid said last week that the “baseline estimate” for the scheme was £200m, and that payouts would be awarded to anyone who has been in the UK since 1988 and was wrongly targeted by immigration enforcement.