Former Jamaican Prime Minister PJ Patterson is scolding Britain for its sordid treatment of Caribbean people who comprise the Windrush generation as that nation today marks the 75th anniversary of the mass migration that reshaped the UK after World War II.

“Seventy-five years ago, a band of young, skilled and hard-working men and women arrived in England to rebuild a country devastated by the massive destruction in World War 2. Theirs was a response to the call of Empire and the search for a better life.

“Since then, those who followed and their progeny overcame the bitter cold and racial discrimination to build the modern Britain which exists today. It is more than a travesty of justice that, after their massive contributions to every facet of professional endeavour and cultural enrichment, they are no longer made to feel welcome and highly valued, Patterson told the Jamaica Observer on Wednesday.

Patterson, who held office from 1992 to 2006, making him the longest-serving prime minister in Jamaica’s history, is one of the Caribbean’s most respected and senior statesmen.

His reference to the treatment meted out to the Windrush generation stems from the fact that more than five years after the wrongful deportation and detention of Britons of Caribbean origin was exposed, the British Government’s scheme to compensate victims of what became known as the Windrush scandal is failing.

After living and working in the UK for decades, thousands of people who went to that country between 1948 and the early 1970s were asked to meet impossible Government requirements to prove their right to live in Britain.

Many lost jobs, homes, health care, pensions, and benefits because they could not produce paperwork, while others were taken into custody or forced to return to the Caribbean.

Former Prime Minister Theresa May personally apologised to Caribbean leaders on April 17, 2018, and in 2019 a compensation scheme was set up.

But Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the scheme set up to support victims was “failing and violating their right to an effective remedy for human rights abuses they suffered at the hands of the Home Office”.

“Five years after the Windrush scandal came to light, the Home Office compensation scheme is compounding its injustice by denying claimants their right to redress for the life-altering losses and negative effects it has had on their lives for years,” Agence France Presse quoted Almaz Teffera, a HRW researcher on racism in Europe.

“The UK Government should hand over the compensation scheme to an independent body that guarantees each claimant a fair and independent hearing,” Teffera said.

Known as the Windrush generation — after the Empire Windrush, one of the ships that brought them to the UK from the West Indies — they were invited to work in Britain due to shortages of key workers following World War II.

They received indefinite leave to remain, but many who did not apply for passports found themselves targeted by immigration laws intended to create a “hostile environment” for illegal immigrants.

The hardline policy was pioneered after the right-wing Conservative Party retook power in 2010 when May was interior minister.

As a result, many found themselves accused of being illegal immigrants.

It’s not the first time the compensation scheme has been condemned.

In 2021, British MPs slammed what they said were “truly shocking” delays in compensation.

A cross-party home affairs committee said 23 claimants had died without receiving a penny and recommended that the Home Office should be stripped of involvement in handling the claims.

The MPs said claimants faced a “daunting” application process and “unreasonable requests for evidence”, and were “left in limbo in the midst of inordinate delays”.

HRW said as of January 2023, only 12.8 per cent of the estimated 11,500 eligible claimants had been compensated.

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