When I first began campaigning to expose the Home Office Windrush scandal, I was driven by outrage – but also by deep concern for the human cost. Behind every headline about wrongful deportations or denied citizenship were stories of people’s lives upended, their sense of identity shattered, and their trust in institutions destroyed. Over time, it became painfully clear that this was not only a political scandal – it was a profound public mental health crisis.
The trauma experienced by the Windrush generation and their families have roots far deeper than one set of immigration policies. It connects to the legacies of colonialism, racism, and decades of neglect. Research such as The Ties That Bind – the first major study to explore the mental health and community trauma caused by the Windrush scandal – highlighted how policies of exclusion and disbelief led to anxiety, depression, shame, and grief across entire communities. It demonstrated what many of us already knew: that the Windrush scandal was not just about lost paperwork, but about lost identity, belonging, and dignity. This aligns with earlier evidence from The Lancet on how community trauma and individual distress are intertwined – how collective injustices can translate into lifelong mental and physical harm. For those caught up in the scandal, the humiliation, fear of deportation, and the constant need to prove one’s legitimacy left invisible scars. For many, it felt as though the country they had helped to build had turned its back on them.
The hidden health toll
The Home Office Windrush scandal was, in many ways, a policy-induced health emergency. The government’s “hostile environment” didn’t just strip people of their rights; it stripped them of their sense of safety. Many survivors live with depression, anxiety, and symptoms consistent with post-traumatic stress. Others have reported chronic physical illnesses worsened by stress – high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes among them. Yet there has been little meaningful acknowledgment of this harm. The Home Office’s Windrush Compensation Scheme has failed to deliver justice or even basic recognition to many victims. The process itself has retraumatised people – forcing them to relive their pain in the hope of being believed. The lack of trauma-informed support from the very institutions responsible has compounded the damage.
Grief, Loss, and Paulette Wilson’s Legacy
In my contribution to Black Grief and Bereavement, I reflected on the premature death of my friend and fellow campaigner Paulette Wilson, one of the best-known victims of the Windrush scandal. Paulette was detained and threatened with deportation to Jamaica – a country she hadn’t seen since she was a child – despite having lived and worked in Britain for over 50 years. Her death in 2020, just months after giving evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee, remains one of the most devastating reminders of how racism and bureaucratic cruelty can destroy lives. In the Guardian obituary I wrote for Paulette, I tried to capture both her courage and the unbearable toll that the ordeal took on her health. Her story is emblematic of the thousands of others whose pain has been minimised or ignored. Paulette’s passing was not an isolated tragedy – it was a consequence of systemic trauma. The grief felt by her family and the wider community continues to resonate, representing the emotional cost of policy failure and racial injustice.
Intergenerational Trauma and Racial Injustice
This injustice doesn’t end with the first generation. The children and grandchildren of Windrush victims carry the weight of these experiences too – what psychologists call intergenerational trauma. Racism is not just an external force; it seeps into family life, shaping how people see themselves and their futures. The stress of discrimination, exclusion, and loss affects not only mental wellbeing but also physical health outcomes over generations, as Centre for Mental Health’s briefing A Constant Battle so powerfully showed. For older members of the Windrush generation, many now in their 70s and 80s, the psychological toll is compounded by isolation, financial insecurity, and physical ill health. They were promised security and citizenship – and instead, they have spent their later years fighting to prove their right to exist in the country they call home.
This is why I have called for a Windrush Covenant – inspired by the Armed Forces Covenant, which recognises the duty of care owed to veterans who have suffered physical injury or trauma in service of the nation. Like those who have served in the armed forces, the Windrush generation and their descendants have served Britain – in hospitals, transport, factories, and public life. They too have borne invisible wounds in the line of that service. A Windrush Covenant would be a formal and enduring commitment by government and public institutions to ensure that those harmed by the scandal – and future generations – receive lasting recognition, protection and support. It would embed trauma‑informed practice across services, guarantee independent oversight of compensation and redress, and affirm the nation’s responsibility to safeguard the dignity and wellbeing of the Windrush generation and their families.
The recent Home Office announcement – even as partial changes to the compensation scheme are finally being implemented such as offering victims 75% of their compensation upfront and expanding payments to cover lost pension contributions – show the fundamental issues that remain. In a remarkable public admission, the new Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood recently conceded that the Home Office is “not yet fit for purpose”, effectively acknowledging the department’s failure to deliver timely justice and the ongoing trauma inflicted on Windrush victims. Mahmood described the scandal as a “shameful stain” on British history and vowed to “leave no stone unturned” until everyone affected receives the justice they deserve.
Her candour has only amplified rising calls to remove the compensation scheme from the Home Office entirely and to establish a fully independent, judge-led public inquiry into the scandal – a step campaigners (myself included) have long argued is necessary to truly reckon with this injustice and ensure it is never repeated. Only by marrying honest accountability with concrete action can we begin to repair the damage, deliver the compensation and care still owed, and finally turn this painful page in our nation’s history.
We can’t undo the suffering caused by the Windrush scandal. But we can create a covenant of care, justice, and respect – one that ensures this never happens again, and that those who suffered are not left to carry their pain alone. The Windrush generation came here to rebuild Britain after the war. The least we can do now is help rebuild their trust, dignity, and wellbeing in return.
Professor Patrick Vernon OBE is Engagement Ambassador for NHS Birmingham and Solihull NHS Integrated Care Board (BSol ICB) having served as the ICB’s Chair from January 2023 to October 2025. He is also Chair of the Walsall Together Partnership Board and a broadcaster, public speaker and writer on healthcare, cultural heritage and race.
