Many lost their jobs, their homes… above all, lost their dignity and identity.

The Windrush scandal not only exposed how the Home Office’s hostile environment policies affected tens of thousands of people originally from Commonwealth countries who were wrongly treated as illegal residents, but it exposed the extent these policies had on these people, known as the Windrush Generation. Many lost their jobs, their homes, were denied free health care and access to public services; were unable to visit loved ones abroad, some detained and deported and above all, lost their dignity and identity.

United Legal Access has been actively supporting individuals who have been impacted by the hostile environment since August 2019. Our work started in Nottingham after being approached by a senior minister of the Pilgrim Church and being asked to provide legal support to those that the church had met; people who had been affected by the ‘Windrush Scandal’ and wanted to make applications for compensation to the Windrush Compensation Scheme.