Windrush Scheme

More than 450 Indians were confirmed of their British citizenship under the UK government’s Windrush Scheme, set up in the wake of an immigration scandal.

What was the Scheme all about?

Windrush Generation refers to citizens of former British colonies who had arrived in the UK before 1973 when the rights of such Commonwealth citizens to live and work in Britain were substantially curtailed. Family members of the Windrush Generation have also got benefits of the scheme.

The scandal erupted when as many of those from Windrush generation who arrived as children around that period were struggling to access state services or even threatened with deportation because they did not possess any documents to prove they arrived in Britain before 1973. Indians were one of the largest groups affected, after Caribbean nationals.

The name Windrush was derived from the ship named ‘Windrush’ which brought Jamaican workers to the UK shores in 1948.