Two years after the Windrush scandal, many expect a refund | United Kingdom News
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Dominic Akers-Paul, 27, is still awaiting full payment in what he believes is a debt owed to the United Kingdom government.
He is one of the thousands of people affected by Windrush whose major migration issues bring with it serious challenges to his experience and expertise.
His mother was born at sea, while his grandmother traveled between St Kitts and Nevis, the two Caribbean islands and the former British colony, and the UK. He was not considered a British citizen because of this.
For a long time in her life, Dominic’s mother struggled to prove that she was British – a problem she was given to her son.
Before receiving his passport from the British government at the age of 18, Akers-Paul was barred from leaving the country, and he was unable to attend his grandmother’s funeral in the Caribbean.
He could not work.
After graduating from high school at the age of 16, Akers-Paul worked hard to learn a trade. But he was forced to resign from the scheme when the company that wanted to hire him applied for his right to work. At the time, they did not have the proper documents.
Many of the Windrush generation – people who came to the UK from 1948 to 1971 from Caribbean countries – have been found to have no valid immigration documents due to government failure.
The victims, who did not emigrate, were not properly selected by the government to become illegal UK citizens.
The disorder also affects victims of the victims, such as Akers-Paul.
Under the UK’s controversial policy – a legal approach first announced in 2012 to make life more difficult for those who do not have the right to residency – access to health care, employment, and development was denied to the Windrush generation and other Commonwealth citizens.
In April 2019, just one year after the Windrush riots broke out, the UK Home Office launched a repatriation solution.
But those who claimed and those who campaigned criticized this as insufficient considering the difficulties they faced.
The plot was reversed in December 2020 after much protest.
Home Office raised a small “Part 1” – a guaranteed portion for anyone who receives Home Office and victim of Windrush – from 250 pounds to 10,000 pounds ($ 350 to $ 14,100).
Since May last year, Akers-Paul has been fighting with the Home Office to pay him.
He was initially offered to pay a portion of the 3,000 pounds ($ 4,300), which later increased to 40,000 pounds ($ 56,400).
Convinced that his case needed to be reviewed, Akers-Paul filed a second form.
The panel acknowledges that the victim suffered serious injuries as a result of the abuse.
The Home Office has asked for more evidence of the tragedy – including evidence Akers-Paul was fired from his job years ago because he did not have a passport.
Military officials say that this type of evidence is impossible to present because it has not been compiled electronically or is no longer available.
“[The caseworker] said that there was no loss of money because I had not kept any letters of resignation because I did not have a passport. “Because I can’t prove this, they can’t give me any rewards,” Akers-Paul said.
“The evidence they want you to give, they know you won’t have it, and then when you can’t give it to them, they say they won’t give it to you because of things you can’t prove… So it’s like everything is set up for you to fail.”
In addition, although he does not have any documents that prevent him from working or leaving the country for 18 years, “he said.[the Home Office] “It simply came to our notice then.”
Akers-Paul is appealing to the Office to reject their second application, with the help of lawyers working with Windrush Lives, a group that helps victims of fraud.
Windrush Lives told Al Jazeera: “The burdens imposed on the applicants in the Windrush Compensation Scheme are too high and, in many cases, impossible to meet.
“This undermines the role of the Windrush Scandal, with respondents being asked to provide evidence to prove their innocence, largely due to the unfairness of the environmental issues that they say are being addressed through this Policy.”
Last month, a survey by the National Audit Office (NAO) found that 633 people by the government’s initial estimate of 15,000 eligible applicants had received funding.
In a statement to Parliament on April 29, Secretary of the Home Priti Patel acknowledged that, of the 1,417 cases currently under review by the Home Office, more than 500 cases have been reviewed for more than a year.
The Home Office recently revealed that 21 people have died while waiting to pay compensation.
Military veteran Patrick Vernon has called for the Windrush campaign to be run independently by a non-governmental organization to “give confidence, respect, compassion and trust to those affected by their families”.
The request received about 60,000 signatures.
He told Al Jazeera that the NAO report confirms the need for the payment of fees to be removed from the hands of the Home Office.
“The plot was not designed in the spirit and with the intention of restoring justice to justify wrongdoing,” Vernon told Al Jazeera. “Regular improvement and delays also reinforce the anxiety and trauma of those affected by their families.”
He further added that the conspiracy was “not a coup d’état”, but a “genocide” based on the current state of affairs, which is one of the main causes of racism in the Office and the realization of environmental issues “.
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