Weekly Update – Friday 18th March 2022

Windrush

On Monday I was pleased to host an event about the Windrush Compensation Scheme alongside Windrush Lives, a victim-led support network and advocacy group for those affected by the Windrush scandal. We were joined by many of my Labour colleagues to hear moving testimonies from claimants to the scheme, as well as activists and solicitors advocating on their behalf.

Despite all the language from the Government after the exposure of its horrific treatment of the Windrush generation, this scheme completely fails to make amends. The stress and anguish which thousands were subjected to, including the denial of healthcare, the loss of jobs and homes, and in the worst cases the denial of re-entry to the UK or detainment and deportation mean individuals should be entitled to significant compensation. Some of the offers of compensation we were told about were a disgrace and bore no relation to the experience that claimants were put through. The lengthy waits claimants are being subjected to suggested to me that the Home Office is simply waiting for people to pass away.

Other important issues raised were that Claimants’ loss of private pensions which they may have had to cash in to deal with financial problems arising from the denial of their immigration status in the UK will not be dealt with by the scheme. The experiences of people whose background is from countries on the African continent are also too often ignored around discussions of the Windrush scandal.

Everyone agreed that the Windrush Compensation Scheme needs to be taken out of the Home Office’s hands, otherwise many more will sadly die without receiving any financial compensation. My colleagues and I have pledged to keep up the pressure on the Government to expose this continued scandal and to finally get some justice for Windrush victims.

Select Committee Update

This week as part of my work on the Public Accounts Select Committee, I was a lead member in questioning senior DWP officials about the Child Maintenance Service. I was especially concerned that research has found that hundreds of thousands of families who do not currently have an arrangement would like one.

I highlighted that low-income families, as well as Black families are considerably less likely to use the service. Sadly, there has been no research done yet to establish why families from certain ethnic groups are less likely to use the service, which needs to change. Low-income families are also far more likely to end up in arrears for their payments.

Further problems identified mean that contributing parents can face financial problems in making payments and should be tackled by the Government. This includes that the earning bands to determine how much parents should contribute are based on research done in 1998, meaning that parents are paying far more in real terms than was projected then. Also, child maintenance payments coupled with the Universal Credit taper rate can lead to marginal tax rates of around 100% for some contributing parents when their income increases.

Child Q

Many of you have contacted me about the news that police in Hackney strip searched a child without parental consent or an Appropriate Adult present. The report into this incident states that racism was a likely factor in this treatment, and also implicates the sexism and classism that is ingrained in the Metropolitan Police. I and some of my Black female colleagues from the Labour Party have loudly denounced this and called for much work to be done within the police to prevent this being repeated in future.

I have also written to the Detective Chief Superintendent for the area to seek assurances on what action will be taken to discipline the officers involved after this flagrant abuse of power. From what we have heard, the victim of this treatment is traumatised and is requiring therapy to recover, and I sincerely hope that she receives all the support that she needs going forwards.

Nazanin is Free

There is not a great deal of good news around right now, but I’m sure we were all pleased to see Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe be reunited with her family after many years of wrongful detention in Iran. Much credit must go to the tireless campaigning of Nazanin’s husband, Richard Ratcliffe, who I recently visited while he was on hunger strike outside the Foreign Office, for his tireless campaigning. It was also good to hear that Anoosheh Ashoori, another British-Iranian national, was also released after his own years spent in detention in Iran.

——————————-

Thank you for taking the time to read my latest update. If you have any issues that you would like to raise directly with me then please do email edmontonconstituency@parliament.uk. I’m always happy to help whenever possible.

Kind regards,

Kate Osamor MP