The Windrush Compensation Scheme has paid £105 million to 4,300 claimants since it launched in April 2019, according to Home Office statistics updated in September 2026. A further 5,000 claims remain unresolved — either awaiting initial assessment, subject to requests for further evidence, or pending an internal review of an initial decision.
The scheme was established following the public revelation in 2018 that the Home Office had wrongly classified members of the Windrush generation — Commonwealth citizens who arrived in the UK between 1948 and 1971 — as illegal immigrants, leading to detention, deportation, denial of NHS treatment, and loss of employment. The Wendy Williams review of 2020 described the Home Office’s conduct as demonstrating “institutional ignorance and thoughtlessness towards the issue of race.”
The Pace of Resolution
At current processing rates — approximately 1,100 claims finalised per year in 2025/26 — the 5,000 outstanding claims will take between four and five years to resolve. The independent adviser to the scheme, Dr Wanda Wyporska, warned in her July 2026 annual report that the pace was “causing additional harm to claimants, many of whom are elderly, ill, or in financial hardship.” She noted that 34 claimants had died while their claims remained unresolved since the scheme launched.
The average award for finalised claims is £24,400. The highest category of award — for those wrongly detained or deported — averages £52,000. Claimant representatives have consistently argued that the award levels do not adequately reflect the severity or duration of the harm suffered.
Recommendations Unimplemented
The Wendy Williams review made 30 recommendations for Home Office reform. Williams’s 2022 progress review found 8 of the 30 had been fully implemented; her 2024 review found 14 of 30 implemented. As of October 2026, the Home Office has not published a further progress update. Dr Wyporska’s July 2026 report called for a statutory deadline for the scheme’s completion, legislative protection for the right to claim, and an independent body to oversee scheme administration.