Home Office under Theresa May was urged to act on problems facing Windrush generation in 2014

Home Office officials were urged four years ago to act on the growing problems facing the Windrush generation, it has emerged, including recommendations to create a specialist taskforce which was only set up this week.

It follows intense pressure on the government department and Theresa May over their handling of the Windrush scandal that has highlighted the plight of members of a generation of immigrants who arrived as British citizens in the mid-twentieth century.

This week both Amber Rudd, the home secretary, and the prime minister have personally apologised for the debacle, promising compensation for those affected and setting up a new dedicated team in the Home Office tasked with helping members of the Windrush generation prove their right to British citizenship.

But the government now faces renewed criticism after it emerged that a similar recommendation – the creation of specialist Home Office unit – was made in October 2014 while Ms May was in charge of the department as home secretary.

In a detailed report, published in October 2014 by the Legal Action Group, it was also warned that thousands of migrants who have been in Britain legally for decades were falling victim to the “hostile immigration” policies aimed at illegal immigrants in the UK.

The recommendations of the Chasing Status report also included maintaining applicants’ ability to work and claim benefits while their status is resolved.

It stated: “The Home Office should consider mitigating some of the worst effects of status problems by issuing letters pending consideration, which would confirm eligibility to continue working and/or claiming benefits, and accessing other essential services, such as the NHS and rented accommodation, while their application is being processed.”

Recommending the establishment of a specialist unit, the report continued: “Recognising that these cases require a specific understanding of the history of immigration control and how Commonwealth citizens have been affected, to establish a specialised case working unit with the Home Office, to which applications such as these will be directed.”

When the report was originally published four years ago, it was carried in The Guardian and contained a comment from the Home Office, meaning officials were aware of its existence. It contained several anonymous case studies of the problems facing the Windrush generation.

The Labour MP David Lammy, who has been a leading campaigner for those members of the Windrush generation experiencing difficulties, told The Independent: “It is utterly extraordinary that the Home Office was clearly aware of the impact that their pernicious policies would have, yet ignored all the warnings and impact assessments.

“The apologies made by the home secretary and prime minister are merely crocodile tears given that they were fully aware of the human cost that their policies would have. It’s time for a proper and independent review of our immigration policy and the hostile environment.”

He continued: “The government has tried to dismiss the Windrush crisis as a bureaucratic error or officials overzealously interpreting policy but in reality it is a direct result of the hostile environment policy introduced by Theresa May when she was home secretary.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Illegal immigration impacts the whole of society, putting pressure on taxpayer-funded public services, leaving vulnerable people at the mercy of exploitative employers or landlords, and at worst fuelling the abhorrent crimes of modern slavery and human trafficking.

“People from the Windrush generation are of course here legally. The home secretary has recognised the huge contribution they have made to our society, and has apologised unreservedly to them.

“The vast majority will already have documentation that proves their right to be here. For those that don’t, we have established a new dedicated team to quickly help them get the documentation they need and ensure this is resolved as soon as possible.”

On Sunday Jeremy Corbyn is expected to tell Labour’s Welsh conference that Theresa May is personally responsible for the controversy by setting a deliberately unreachable bar with her “hostile environment” immigration policies.

He is set to tell the Llandudno gathering: “Iit’s not as if they weren’t warned. At the time the Tories were pushing their hostile environment policy through parliament some of us, sadly far too few, warned about the consequences for those born in the UK and those born abroad alike.

“So now we’re seeing those consequences in a string of harrowing human stories. People’s lives ripped apart because of the personal decisions and actions of Theresa May and her government.”