Windrush shame: more than 1,000 cases yet to be addressed by Home Office
More than 1,000 applicants are still waiting to have their cases considered, and more than dozens of Windrush claimants are still expecting a decision after one year has passed, whereas only one in four requests for urgent support has been accepted, government figures show.
The recent statistics published by the Home Office confirms that there are still 3,720 unresolved cases within the Windrush Taskforce, of which 151 are between six months and one year old, and 35 still remain unsolved after 12 months.
The Home Office declared that 731 cases remain unresolved because of their intricacy, whereas 1,683 cases are ineligible or unqualifiable for the Windrush structure – but still remain unconcluded. With a total of 1,111 cases yet to be considered at all, the majority of them were awaiting the biometrics submission by the applicant, according to the declarations made by the Home Office.
The ministerial department further explained that of the cases that are now over 12 months old, none of the entities that have been supposed to qualify for the scheme was awaiting approval of their immigration status.
Jacqueline McKenzie -lawyer and director at Organisation for Migration Advice and Research (OMAR)- claimed that this data was an indicator of the struggles people were facing when applying to the Windrush scheme without having the possibility to access any professional help.
“My understanding with new applicants is that there are still people who either don’t know about the scheme, or who fear they could be subject to enforcement,” she said.
“The stories of people detained and dismissed from the UK still send both repercussions and distress throughout the community of those affected.”
The letter provided to the Home Affairs Select Committee also divulges that of 142 applications for exigent and unique support, only 35 of them have been approved and 89 refused.
Christine Jardine, the Liberal Democrat home affairs representative, claimed: “The conduct of the Windrush Generation by the Home Office has been and continues to be absolutely atrocious. Those waiting for a decision, in some cases for more than an entire year, have been left in restless limbo at a time when the government should be bending over backwards to support candidates.”
A Home Office spokesperson replied to these statements saying: “A devoted Home Office team is working to sort applications out as soon as possible. It’s fair that every individual case is accurately studied, and more than 12,000 people have already been given documentation authorising their status so far.”
“We have been clear since the beginning that no information given for the Windrush scheme application will be used for immigration coercive measures.”
At this point, not only more than 1,000 cases remain unsolved, but who we need to confide in too.