Call for Windrush judicial review in case of elderly man stuck abroad after Home Office rejection

Among the cases taken on by the service, based in Bank Street, Bilston, is that of 87-year-old Reynold Simon-Thompson, whose application to return from Trinidad was rejected by the Home Office.

Prof Vernon said: "Despite all the platitudes people are still having issues.

"We have had five Home Secretaries since 2019 and the rhetoric is still the same. We're hoping that the new Home Secretary, James Cleverly, as he has a Windrush connection, may use his insight to get significant improvements to the situation. None of the previous Home Secretaries made any effort to meet any of the victims or engage with them which speaks volumes.

"As part of the 75th anniversary of Windrush there has significant national recognition across our four nations celebrating and honouring the Windrush generation during and after the Second World War and their contribution to the NHS and wider society.

"Victims are still having to fight for the injustices five years later after the scandal was exposed by seeking legal remedy from the courts as result of failure of the Windrush Task Force, Windrush compensation scheme and lack of implementation of the Wendy Williams Lessons Learned review."

To support the online appeal visit gofundme.com/f/windrush-victim-to-pay-for-his-own-judicial-review.

The 2020 Lessons Learned review found the Home Office had demonstrated “institutional ignorance and thoughtlessness” towards the issue of race and the history of the Windrush generation - but its actions did not satisfy all of the features of institutional racism.

There have already been four judicial review judgments against the Home Office relating to the Windrush scheme, policies connected to British citizenship and acquiring status, but not directly about compensation where there are also unresolved issues.

"After several years of the compensation scheme a lot of victims still have not been coming forward because they do not trust the Home Office despite assurances that the scheme will not be used against them, for fear that they could be deported, even though most would not be.

"This is due to people being treated badly, the compensation process being even more difficult to navigate than their initial status application - for example they keep writing back to the Home Office which either loses the paperwork or asks for even more documents," he added.

The Windrush generation includes anyone who came to the UK from any Commonwealth country between 1948 and 1971 including India, Pakistan and the Caribbean.

It emerged in 2017 that hundreds of people had been wrongly detained, deported and denied legal rights, resulting from the destruction of arrival records which then affected proof of citizenship and status for those people and their descendants.

Many lost their jobs or found they were unable to access healthcare or return following trips abroad. For support visit windrushlegaladviceclinic.com, windrushnationalorganisation.com or telephone 07947 355974.