Deliver Justice 4 Windrush

Aim

Deliver justice for Windrush victims and their families.

“It’s as if they are deliberately planning on people dying to pay out less money”

Dr Sidney McFarlane MBE, Windrush generation member and former RAF Officer, speaking to the Daily Mirror, 2023.

In Spring 2023, while actor Colin McFarlane was working with the Daily Mirror on his growing campaign to raise awareness of prostate cancer, journalists asked his father, Dr Sidney McFarlane MBE, for his views on the treatment of Windrush victims.

Dr McFarlane came to Britain as part of the Windrush generation and served this country for 30 years in the Royal Air Force.

His response was immediate and heartfelt.

“It’s as if they are deliberately planning on people dying to pay out less money”

That simple statement reflected the frustration and despair felt by many victims who had spent years waiting for justice.

Sadly, his fears were not unfounded. At least 66 Windrush victims have now died before their compensation claims were settled.

The Windrush generation came when Britain asked them to come. They helped build the NHS. They drove the buses. They rebuilt post-war Britain. The government promised them justice.

Seven years on, many victims are still waiting.

Join the movement demanding that the Windrush generation receive the justice, compensation and dignity they were promised.

THE INJUSTICE

“It feels like being asked to prove your own existence.” Windrush victim.

The Windrush Compensation Scheme exists. But navigating it alone is almost impossible.

The first stage of the compensation application runs to 44 pages. The guidance notes run to 200 pages. There is no state-funded legal aid, even though victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal and the Infected Blood scandal both receive it.

The government said legal advice was unnecessary. The evidence says otherwise. Research by the charity JUSTICE found that applicants without legal help received on average just £11,400 in compensation. With legal representation, the average was £83,200. One claimant went from zero to £292,000 after getting legal support.

But this is not just about money. It’s about victims and survivors being seen, heard included and healed.

One Windrush victim, after enduring years of homelessness, unemployment and degradation, was offered £20,000 and said:

“I would rather pay the Home Office that money to have my life back.”

WHO WE ARE

Justice 4 Windrush began when Windrush victims and survivors joined forces with artists, lawyers and campaigners who refused to look away.

Its origins can be traced back to Spring 2023. After Colin McFarlane shared his father’s Daily Mirror interview on social media, thousands of people engaged with Dr Sidney McFarlane MBE’s stark warning about the treatment of Windrush victims. One of those people was the singer and campaigner Annie Lennox.

Deeply moved by what she had seen, Annie contacted Colin to ask how she could help. Together they created a campaign film to raise awareness of the ongoing injustice facing Windrush victims that had been brushed under the carpet. The response was overwhelming. What began as a conversation became a campaign. The campaign became a movement. The movement ultimately led to the forming of the social and racial justice charity ‘Justice 4’, and ‘Justice 4 Windrush’, is its first mission.

In two years, the charity has delivered over 300 hours of free legal support, improved more than 100 lives, and put the Home Office scandal affecting the Windrush generation back at the centre of public debate. We have been covered by more than 380 media outlets. More importantly, we have helped people who had stopped believing justice was possible start to believe again.

We are not an institution. We are the people who stayed when others moved on.

WHAT YOUR DONATION DOES

1. Direct Support for Windrush Victims

Many Windrush victims continue to face financial hardship, emotional trauma and complex legal challenges years after the Home Office scandal was exposed.

Some have lost jobs, pensions, homes, healthcare access or vital documents. Others require specialist medical or psychological assessments to evidence the impact the scandal has had on their lives and support compensation claims.

Justice 4 Windrush is establishing a Hardship Fund to help people navigating what is often a lengthy and demanding compensation process. Your donation will help provide hardship grants where needed, alongside specialist advocacy, casework support, expert assessments and assistance with essential costs such as travel and documentation.

All support will be distributed through a clear and transparent assessment process to ensure funds reach those most in need.

By supporting Justice 4 Windrush, you are helping ensure that victims are not left to face the consequences of this scandal alone.

“The mental toll has been immense… the silence, the lack of support, the feeling of abandonment nearly broke me.” Windrush victim

2. No victim faces this alone

Your donation funds specialist legal advice and casework support for people navigating the compensation scheme. Without legal help, the average payout is £11,400. With it, £83,200. One claimant went from zero to £292,000.

That difference is what your donation makes possible.

“If it were not for my solicitor, Pauline Campbell, working with me pro bono, I’m not sure I would still be here today.” Windrush victim

3. Finding the people who’ve stopped looking

Many victims are too traumatised to engage with a system run by the same institution that wronged them. Your donation funds outreach through trusted organisations to reach the people who have stopped believing justice is coming.

“The mental toll has been immense… the silence, the lack of support, the feeling of abandonment nearly broke me.” Windrush victim

4. Making sure it can never happen again

Your donation helps educate future generations about what happened. Because if we don’t know our history, we repeat it.

“I thought history had nothing to do with us until these films showed its impact on our lives today.” University of Lincoln student

Right now, we are close to resolving the case of a 77-year-old Ghanaian woman who was suffering in silence, arriving to work as a cleaner before 5am every day despite being entitled to retire. She has been denied a state pension for the last five years.

After many months of work, we are close to finally making sure she receives what she is owed and can live with dignity.

Once you know, you care and once you care you act.

Justice 4 Windrush is campaigning to secure legal aid for all victims. But whilst we fight that battle, your support means no-one needs to wait for the help they need.

In Spring 2023, Dr Sidney McFarlane MBE said:

“It’s as if they are deliberately planning on people dying to pay out less money”

Today, at the age of 91, he is still waiting to see justice delivered for all those affected.

Let’s prove him wrong.

This campaign is supported by our friends at Rezonate Music Rights, Farrer Kane & Co and a team of volunteers. 

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 2nd August 2026 at 9:27pm