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Tag: community

  • We Are Windrush

    PRESS RELEASE

    A Cultural Evening Celebrating Young Windrush Generation Talent and Legacy

    The Office of the Windrush Commissioner is proud to present We Are Windrush, a special cultural evening celebrating the talent, heritage and legacy of the young Windrush generation. The event takes place on Thursday 11 June 2026, 6pm–10pm at Legacy COE, Birmingham.

    We Are Windrush brings together young creatives, performers, educators and storytellers to explore what the Windrush story means for a new generation, and what it means for them personally. Featuring inspiring panel conversations, live performances, personal reflections and delicious food, the evening is designed to be welcoming, celebratory and thought-provoking.

    The event is part of the Commissioner’s ongoing programme of community engagement across the country, bringing the work of the office directly to communities and ensuring that young people with Caribbean or Commonwealth heritage know their rights, their history, and the support available to them.

    Independent Windrush Commissioner, Reverend Clive Foster said:

    “The Windrush generation came to Britain in good faith, worked hard, built communities, and helped shape this country into what it is today. Their descendants carry that legacy forward, and this evening is our opportunity to celebrate that, through conversation, creativity, and culture.

    “But it is also a chance to ensure that young people with Caribbean or Commonwealth heritage know their history, understand their rights, and are aware that support may be available to them and their families. I am looking forward to a truly special evening and to hearing directly from the next generation about what Windrush means to them.”

    Many young people are unaware that they may be eligible for compensation or confirmation of status through a wider family member’s connection to the Home Office Windrush Scandal. The We Are Windrush event is an opportunity to learn more in a relaxed setting, and to celebrate the extraordinary contributions of the Windrush generation to British life.

    Confirmed guests include:

    Hosting the evening: 

    • Rakeem Omar – award-winning investigative journalist, BBC Radio 1Xtra presenter and documentary filmmaker.

    Panel: Identity, Heritage & Windrush: 

    • CASHH (artist and lived experience storyteller),
    • Keecia Ellis (founder of Rekodi Music, formerly Universal Music Group, Sony and MTV).

    Panel: Justice, Legacy & the Future: 

    • Ify Iwobi (pianist, composer and co-founder of Black Welsh Music Awards),
    • Kayne Kawasaki (cultural theorist and UK Black history educator),
    • Eden McKenzie-Goddard (author, SMALLIE, Penguin Viking 2026).

    Performers: 

    • Casey Bailey (former Birmingham Poet Laureate),
    • Priscilla Cameron (singer and songwriter, The Voice UK 2020),
    • Janel Antoneshia (Jamaican-born singer and songwriter),
    • Ify Iwobi and Wade (BBC Radio Wales A-List pianist and soulful vocalist duo),
    • Jada Pink (London-based DJ and Caribbean sounds specialist).

    The Office of the Windrush Commissioner is delighted that Sandie Okoro, Chancellor of the University of Birmingham, will also be joining us on the evening, reflecting the University’s commitment to celebrating diversity, heritage and the contributions of Caribbean and Commonwealth communities to British life.

    Free tickets are available now at https://we-are-windrush.eventbrite.co.uk.

  • Black Equity Organisation launches the first directory of organisations to support victims of the Windrush Scandal

    PRESS RELEASE

    Source: Black Equity Organisation (press@blackequityorg.com)

    Hundreds of lives were shattered in the wake of the Windrush Scandal in 2018, jobs and homes lost, people being threatened with removal, and many others forced back to countries they hadn’t lived in since childhood. 

    Sadly, the very schemes – Windrush Scandal Compensation Scheme and Windrush Status Scheme – that were set up to compensate victims and address the government’s failure have compounded the stress of many of the victims, as the processes and requirements of the schemes are complex and difficult to navigate.

    Today, Black Equity Organisation (BEO) launches the UK’s first online Windrush Support Directory, Windrush Compensation Support Directory – BEO a centralised resource designed to help victims find trusted support to secure the compensation to which they are entitled.

    The directory brings together organisations and individuals spread across the country that can help claimants with their Windrush applications. From community organisations, Law Centres, University Legal Clinics and law firms, they can get the advice, support, or representation they need.

    Kehinde Adeogun, Director of Legal Services and Policy Black Equity Organisation said:

    “A recurring issue we see in our work on the Windrush scandal is the lack of a single, accessible place where people can find the support they need. Too often, claimants spend hours navigating fragmented information online. This directory is designed to change that, providing a clear, reliable route to support and helping to ease the burden on those already affected. We will continue to expand and update it over time.”

    Hosted on BEO’s website,Windrush Compensation Support Directory – BEO  the directory features an interactive map and user-friendly search tools. Users can enter their postcode, select the type of support they need, and set a travel distance to find relevant services. It is set up to help people who are making an initial Windrush Scheme application, challenging a compensation award at Tier 1 or Tier 2, or making a complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. The directory also highlights organisations offering remote advice and support, ensuring accessibility for those unable to travel.

    Independent Windrush Commissioner, Clive Foster said:

     “Behind every claim is a person, and a family, whose life has been turned upside down by the Home Office Windrush scandal. Too many have been left to navigate a complex and distressing process without the support they need.

     “BEO’s directory addresses a real and longstanding gap, bringing trusted advice and legal support together in one place for the first time. I would encourage anyone affected who has not yet accessed support, or who is struggling with their claim, to use it. Help is out there, and this makes it easier to find.”

    BEO hopes the directory will support the thousands of people affected by the Windrush scandal, improving access to justice and enabling more individuals to secure the compensation they deserve.

    Windrush Compensation Support Directory – BEO

  • Commissioner brings community voices to the Minister

    STATEMENT OF RESPONSE

    There is no substitute for listening. Not reports, not statistics, not policy briefings. Listening to real people, in their own words, about what has actually happened to them.

    That was the principle behind my decision to invite Minister for Migration and Citizenship, Mike Tapp to Pilgrim Church in Nottingham yesterday. This is where I began my work supporting victims of the Home Office Windrush Scandal, including many members of my own congregation. It felt right to bring the Minister here, not to a government building, not to a formal meeting room, but to the place where this community has gathered, grieved, and fought for justice.

    What he heard, I hope, will stay with him.

    Veronica Bell has lived with the consequences of the scandal for years. She was one of the opening case studies in Wendy Williams’ Lessons Learned Review. Her father was prevented from returning to the UK, decades of contribution rendered invisible by the very state he had served. She called it “the erasure of a life lived.” She described the compensation process as “retraumatising,” with applicants met with “disbelief and suspicion,” and was clear that justice means the Government restoring dignity and truly hearing the human impact of what was done.

    Jeremy Prince spoke about the need to recognise, safeguard and celebrate African-Caribbean identity. A community that fears losing its voice and its place in the national story. Minister Tapp spoke about the beauty of Caribbean culture and the need for it be “celebrated and maintained.” He asked how Government, not just the Home Office, could play a role. That is an important question. The scandal is not a Home Office problem alone. Its roots run deeper, and so must the response.

    Shelagh Parker brought the conversation back to an immigration system that is still failing people, processes that feel like a “tick box exercise,” carried out by caseworkers without the historical understanding the work demands. I pressed the Minister directly on this. Wendy Williams’ recommendations are clear: staff must understand the history of empire, the Commonwealth, and the communities who came to the UK in good faith. Minister Tapp agreed to look at how caseworkers can be better equipped. I will be watching to see what progress comes of that commitment.

    Bishop Desmond Jaddoo raised the disproportionate criminalisation of Windrush-affected communities and urged younger descendants to secure their status and passports now, particularly given the current political climate. He also highlighted a troubling disconnect between Windrush Status Teams and HM Passport Office that has left some people wrongly refused passports they were fully entitled to. Minister Tapp acknowledged the difficult balance the Home Office must strike and recognised my role in helping Government get this right.

    Reverend Mark Stewart closed with a challenge I echo: agree the outcomes, measure them, and make sure change actually happens. Young people with Windrush heritage need to feel that Britain is their country too, that they have a secure foundation here and a stake in its future.

    I am grateful to everyone who spoke so honestly and with such courage. The Minister listened. Now we need to see what follows. Listening is not the end of accountability, it is the beginning of it. I will continue to hold the Government to every commitment made in that room.

    Reverend Clive Foster MBE, Independent Windrush Commissioner

  • Remembering Sam King MBE – Founder of Windrush Day

    Windrush Foundation was the first organisation to commemorate Windrush Day in 1995, but Sam King was the person who first conceived the idea back in 1967. He was among the cohorts who arrived in June 1948, and had coined the term ‘Windrush Generation’. Sam was born in Jamaica on 20 February 1926.

    Were it not for him, the Empire Windrush might have disappeared into the mist of time. He was the driving force behind its commemoration, placing an advertisement on 24 December 1967 in the Weekly Gleaner newspaper asking for former Windrush passengers to contact him. The following year, he collaborated with The Sunday Times, which published a special supplement on 30 June 1968 commemorating the 20th anniversary of Windrush Day. Sam was so convincing that newspaper reporter Dick Adler travelled to Jamaica in April 1968 to find and interview former passengers there too.

    Source: The Sunday Times (30 June 1968)

    Sam continued his efforts in 1972 and again in August 1974, helping to organise interviews on BBC TV programmes, the latter being the Ship of Good Hope, narrated by James Cameron. The 1980s brought several crucial milestones. Sam King was elected Mayor of Southwark (1983/1984), during which he supported American actor Sam Wanamaker’s application for planning permission to rebuild the Globe Theatre — the Shakespearean playhouse originally built in 1599 and destroyed by fire in June 1613.

    The 40th anniversary of Windrush Day was commemorated in June 1988, hosted by the Mayor of Lambeth at the Town Hall in Brixton, where a memorial plaque now stands at the entrance of the building. Sam was the organiser. That April, The Sunday Times covered the story again, publishing an article titled ‘Landfall for Empire’s Children’, and Sam also appeared on the Terry Wogan BBC TV show to promote the forthcoming commemoration.

    Sam King and community advocate Arthur Torrington founded Windrush Foundation in 1995, and the organisation became a registered charity in 1996. In October 1997, Bernie Grant MP hosted the launch of Windrush ’50 at a reception at the House of Commons. National events were organised in 1998 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Windrush Day on 22 June. Sam was awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) and, during that year, published his memoir titled Climbing Up the Rough Side of the Mountain. Windrush gained wider public recognition when Prince Charles (now King Charles III) held a reception for the Foundation at St James’s Palace. BBC TV also broadcast four episodes of a documentary called Windrush during June 1998.

    Source: Windrush Foundation (1998)

    Windrush Foundation’s first publication in 2005 was We Served, which honoured four Caribbean veterans of the Second World War who had served in Britain. In 2008, an oral history project produced a video and booklet called Windrush Pioneers. The 60th anniversary of Windrush Day was commemorated in June of that year, and Windrush Foundation collaborated with the Imperial War Museum on an exhibition called From War to Windrush, which brought together photographs of Second World War ex-service personnel and Windrush passengers. Sam himself was a former RAF Flight Engineer during the Second World War and had returned to Britain aboard the Empire Windrush.

    Source: Windrush Foundation

    In 2012, British audiences witnessed one of the most moving moments of the London Olympic Games opening ceremony, when dozens of Black people and a giant model of the Empire Windrush entered the stadium during the historical pageant, representing the Windrush Generation — the cohorts of June 1948.

    Commemorating the 65th anniversary of Windrush Day on 22 June 2013, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg issued a press release paying tribute to “the strength and resilience of the Windrush Generation and the lives they built in Britain.”

    Sam passed away on 17 June 2016. The Times obituary, published three days later, described him as ‘Mr Windrush’.

    Source: Windrush Foundation

    The 70th anniversary in 2018 was overshadowed by what became known as the Windrush Scandal, which exposed the mistreatment of thousands of Caribbean settlers who had been wrongly denied their rights, detained, and in many cases deported despite having every right to live and work in the UK. Also in 2018, the Government publicly acknowledged 22 June as Windrush Day, instituting its commemoration as an annual national event.

    During the 75th anniversary in 2023, Windrush Foundation created seven education resources, all freely downloadable at www.windrushfoundation.com. In 2024, the organisation collaborated with Transport for London as it renamed six overground rail lines, one of which — running from North to South London — is now called the Windrush Line. Sam was honoured at the launch.

    His legacy endures in every commemoration, every resource, and every recognition that bears the name he worked so hard to preserve.

    Source: Arthur Torrington CBE (2024)

    Written by Arthur Torrington CBE (April 2026)

  • Councils join national network to strengthen support for Windrush communities

    PRESS RELEASE

    Councillor Carole Williams, Chair of the Windrush Councils Network and Reverend Clive Foster, Independent Windrush Commissioner

    Survivors of the Home Office Windrush Scandal will benefit from stronger, more consistent support, following the launch of a new network of local authorities committed to improving outcomes for affected communities.

    The Windrush Councils Network launched earlier this month, bringing together founding councils from across England under the leadership of Independent Windrush Commissioner Reverend Clive Foster MBE. The launch was chaired by Councillor Carole Williams of Hackney Council, which is serving as the Network’s Lead Council.

    The Network will provide a shared space for councils to exchange learning, strengthen local services, and ensure the voices of those directly affected shape the support they receive. Its core objectives are to increase awareness of the Windrush Scandal and the support available, improve residents’ access to council services and legal and welfare support, and promote a consistent and culturally competent response across local government.

    Speaking at the launch, Independent Windrush Commissioner Reverend Clive Foster MBE said the Network was a vital part of the broader effort to restore justice for those affected.

    “The impact of the Home Office Windrush Scandal is felt locally. Residents often come to their council first for guidance or support.

    “The purpose of this network is simple: to coordinate consistent support for survivors, share what works, build trust, raise awareness in communities and ensure that every resident receives clear and accessible help.”

    The Commissioner also highlighted that recommendations from his office have already led to concrete changes, including compensation for lost pensions, greater prioritisation for elderly and vulnerable claimants, and the introduction of advance payments for those going through the review process.

    Councils discussed the barriers they face in supporting affected residents and shared examples of local action already underway. These included oral history projects to record the testimonies of Windrush elders, passing of specific council motions on Windrush, and annual Windrush Day events and celebrations. The discussion also highlighted that the scandal’s impact extends well beyond Caribbean communities, affecting people from across the Commonwealth and raising awareness among all affected groups remains a key challenge.

    Councillor Carole Williams, Chair of the Windrush Councils Network, said:

    “The story of the Windrush Generation lives on – in our streets, our culture, and our communities. The launch of the Windrush Councils Network brings together councils from across the country to unlock justice for those affected by the Home Office Windrush Scandal, rebuild trust, and amplify voices to ensure local experiences shape national policy.

    “This is about more than remembrance. It’s about action, pride and progress.”

    Members agreed the Network’s Terms of Reference and discussed plans to develop a Windrush Local Government Charter — a set of commitments setting out what strong and consistent council-level support for Windrush-affected communities should look like.

    The Network also agreed to establish a Community Engagement and Advisory Panel to ensure that the lived experience of those affected by the scandal shapes its priorities and approach.

    The next meeting of the Windrush Councils Network is planned for early June, ahead of Windrush Day, allowing members to coordinate their activities and celebrations together.

    The Network currently includes Hackney, Birmingham, Wandsworth, Lambeth, Nottingham, Leicester, Liverpool, Luton, Brent, Watford, Manchester, Southwark, Greater London Authority and Bristol. Membership remains open to any local authority committed to improving support for Windrush-affected communities, and councils from across England and the other nations of the UK are encouraged to get in touch.