Windrush Victim Calls Home Office’s £22,000 Compensation Offer ‘An Insult’

A victim of the Windrush scandal who was unable to work for a decade because of her immigration status has called the government’s offer of compensation “an insult”. 

Glenda Caesar, who came to the UK from Dominica in 1961 “as a babe in arms”, has been offered £22,264 under the Home Office’s Windrush compensation scheme. 

“It definitely feels like an insult,” the 58-year-old told HuffPost UK. “You’re [the government] making me feel like a peasant – you’re throwing crumbs at me and expecting me to take the crumbs because I’m really hungry.” 

Caesar, who lives in Hackney, first found out she wasn’t a British citizen after she tried to visit her dying mother in the Caribbean in 1998. 

“When she was in hospital, I wanted to see if I could get a passport for me to get over straight away,” she explained. “And that’s when I found out I wasn’t British. 

“I had never needed a passport before because I was a young mother and I was raising children – I didn’t think about holidays. But when my mum fell sick in 1998, I just wanted to get over Dominica.” 

In 2009, things became even more serious for Caesar. The mum-of-four, who also has 11 grandchildren, was sacked from her part-time job as a GP practice administrator because of her lack of British citizenship. 

According to Caesar, she was unable to work or claim benefits for the next 10 years and was forced to rely on her children for support. 

“I had been independent – a single mother having to raise her children, of course I was,” Caesar said. “To have to turn round and depend on your children – no mother wants to do that. You should be able to help them. 

“My daughter is disabled – she gets disability for being deaf. I had to rely on her and her money. It’s not a good thing.” 

During these years, Caesar accumulated “a lot of debt” and rent arrears and faced eviction from her home numerous times. 

“It got to me,” she said. “I went to the doctor because I had contemplated suicide. They put me through therapy.” 

“I just felt like I’d given up. I was like: ‘Whatever happens, happens. I can’t do this no more.’ I was just getting more and more depressed.”