What we do

Windrush Lives is an advocacy group and victim support network, led by victims of the Windrush scandal. Our primary focus is the Windrush Compensation Scheme - we want it stripped from Home Office control and run independently.

Through our advocacy work on the compensation scheme, we have come to the view that there is a pressing need for a statutory inquiry into the Windrush Scandal - read more here.

If you intend to make a claim to the Windrush Compensation Scheme, we strongly suggest you obtain independent legal advice. We can refer you to a network of legal professionals for pro-bono support with your application - send us a message. 

If you lost your status or identification documents as a result of the Windrush scandal, or think you might have, contact us - we may be able to refer you for legal assistance.  

The hostile environment is a danger to us all. While the phrase was first used by then-Home Secretary Theresa May in a newspaper interview in 2012, it has come to be associated with a broader suite of immigration, citizenship, borders and policing policies, many of them pre-dating that usage. These policies discriminate against and marginalise migrants, asylum seekers and people of colour. The Windrush Scandal is just one example of the serious, irreversible repercussions such policies can have, whether or not by intent - thousands of mainly Black and brown people were wrongfully told they had no legal right to remain in the UK, and lost their jobs, homes, and access to services. Some were deported and died in exile, and an unknown number of victims remain stranded overseas.

For this reason, we also campaign against legislation designed to extend and entrench the hostile environment, such as the Nationality and Borders Bill, which is currently making its way through Parliament.