The Windrush scandal refers to a series of injustices faced by individuals from Caribbean nations who legally migrated to the UK between 1948 and 1971, primarily invited to help address post-World War II labor shortages. These individuals, known as the Windrush generation, arrived as British subjects with full rights to settle in the UK.

The scandal came to public attention in 2017–2018, when it was revealed that hundreds of long-term UK residents—many of whom had lived in the country for decades—were being wrongfully detained, threatened with deportation, denied access to public services, and in some cases, deported or refused re-entry to the UK. The Home Office’s demand for extensive documentation to prove residency rights was impossible for many to meet.

A 2020 independent review concluded that the scandal was “foreseeable and avoidable,” resulting from decades of immigration legislation and a Home Office culture marked by “ignorance and thoughtlessness”. The government established a compensation scheme, but by 2021, only a small fraction of victims had received payments, and many died before receiving redress.