What happened
The Windrush generation arrived in the UK between 1948 and 1973. They were British subjects, entitled to live and work in the UK. Many had lived here for 40–50 years, paid tax, used the NHS, raised families.
From 2012, under the 'hostile environment' policy designed by Theresa May as Home Secretary, landlords, employers, banks, and the NHS were required to check immigration status before providing services. For people who had arrived as children, often without formal documentation, this was impossible to prove.
The Home Office then destroyed the landing cards that would have proved Windrush arrivals' legal status — a fact the department knew and did not disclose. When people were wrongly caught by the hostile environment, they faced: termination of employment, eviction, denial of cancer treatment, detention in immigration removal centres, and deportation.
The Williams Review (2020) found the policy was 'foreseeable and avoidable' and that institutional racism played a role in how it was implemented.