When the Windrush scandal hit headlines in 2018, Charlotte Tobierre’s first reaction was relief. 

Her father, Thomas, had been unable to secure a job for almost a year. He had no documents proving his right to live and work in the UK, despite having done so since moving from the Caribbean in 1960.

To support his family, Thomas was forced to drain his savings and his £14,000 private pension.

His daughter, Charlotte, said: “There was just nothing. Everything led to a dead end."

But the Windrush scandal exposed the Home Office’s failure to provide proper documents upon his - and thousands of others’ - legal immigration decades prior. 

Thomas had done nothing wrong. 

Surely, they thought, life would soon be back on track. He would receive compensation for the family’s year of misery and would be able to secure another job.

But just weeks after restarting work, his wife, Caroline, was diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer. 

The Windrush scandal was just the beginning. 

The Tobierre story

Thomas Tobierre was born in St Lucia in 1953.

Like hundreds of thousands of Commonwealth citizens, he moved to the UK - legally - aged seven and started work aged 15. 

He married Caroline, a British-born citizen, in 1975. They settled in Essex, where they raised three children.  

Thomas worked as an engineer for 26 years, until he was made redundant in June 2017. But suddenly, no employer would take him on because he did not have documentation to prove his right to work. 

The Tobierre family were baffled. 

There had been sporadic reporting of immigrants targeted by the Government’s ‘hostile environment’ policies, but it hadn’t yet erupted into the Windrush scandal. 

In Essex, a predominantly white county, the Tobierres had few opportunities to cross paths with others going through a similar situation. 

Thomas’ daughter Charlotte said: “We really thought it must just be something with us, like we were missing something.

“The following year was the worst we could have had.”

As soon as the Home Office acknowledged their failings in spring 2018, the Tobierres got in contact with their local MP. 

Thomas’s right to live, work and remain indefinitely in the UK was recognised in May 2018, enabling him to secure another job.

But Caroline was diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer just weeks later. 

Dominic Akers-Paul's story

Dominic Akers-Paul was born in the UK but it took him nearly 18 years to obtain a passport. 

His grandmother gave birth while at sea, en route to her new life in England. Coming from Saint Kitts in the Caribbean, Akers-Paul’s grandmother was a British citizen so held a British passport. 

But his mother, Franca Akers-Penn, was rendered stateless for the first 40 years of her life. Upon the ship’s arrival in Southampton, she was refused any kind of citizenship. And this had a knock-on effect for her son born years later.

Akers-Paul and his family sought guidance from their MP, then Frank Dobson, and the Government who recommended he get naturalised. 

He said: “I refused to do that on principle. How can I be naturalised when I’m from nowhere else? I was born here, went to uni, college, and nursery here.”

Akers-Paul, now 32, said having no passport throughout his childhood had a detrimental and traumatic impact. He missed out on trips abroad, including an essay-writing competition prize trip to the US and his grandmother’s funeral in Grenada. 

Akers-Paul applied to the WCS in 2019. 

He said: “The scheme was where everything went even more wrong.”

His initial offer of £3,000 for impact on life was eventually upgraded to a level three award, for those who’ve experienced a short-term impact of the Government’s ‘hostile environment’ policy.

Akers-Paul said: “It took issue with that. The harm was long-term, long-lasting, very material and can’t be fixed. To award me short-term is disrespectful to say the least.

“It was a kick in the face.”

He also didn’t qualify for financial losses, despite not being able to access employment before gaining his passport aged 18. 

Akers-Paul missed out on opportunities to work Saturday or holiday jobs like his peers. He was offered an engineering apprenticeship, but the company eventually turned him down due to a lack of legal right to work.

He instead attended sixth form and university, racking up tens of thousands of pounds in student debt. 

The WCS refused to consider this as a financial loss because it ended with a “positive” outcome. 

Akers-Paul, now a transit worker, had no choice but to accept the WCS offer by 2024. He had exhausted all avenues of appeal, even with pro-bono legal support. This included all review tiers and the parliamentary ombudsman. 

Akers-Paul, who now lives in Canada, said he feels let down by the current Labour Government. 

As a resident of Sir Keir Starmer’s constituency, Holborn and St Pancras, Akers-Paul sought guidance and support from the now-Prime Minister’s office. 

Starmer’s office promised to make changes if Labour won power. But Akers-Paul said he is disappointed by the lack of improvements. 

He said: “He [Starmer] was very aware of my case but offered very little to no support. He couldn’t care less.

“It’s all a game to these guys. Anything to gain power and once they have it, they don’t care about you.”

Pension losses

The WCS announced they would include private pension losses in their compensation evaluations from January this year.

This was largely triggered by an ombudsman investigation into the Tobierre family’s experiences, where the exclusion of Thomas’ nearly £14,000 private pension loss went ignored for years. 

This was one of a litany of failures identified by the the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) in March last year, including an inconsistent policy and communication with the Tobierres as to whether lesions were included in compensation evaluations.  

Crucially, Thomas felt compelled to accept an offer in January 2021, despite the pension offer still left unresolved. 

The family were in such a tight financial situation that Caroline struggled to afford transport to her hospital appointments and new clothes when she put on weight following her treatment. 

It left her with no choice but to go back to working long hours as a cleaner, while still ill with cancer.  

A PHSO spokesperson said: “This shows how one person’s complaint can lead to improvements that will benefit many individuals and their families.

“Further changes have since been made to the Scheme, which is a step in the right direction. 

"However, the complaints we are seeing continue to raise concerns we highlighted in our 2024 report. There is still work to be done to make sure those who are owed compensation can access what they are entitled to.”

In response to the ombudsman report, the WCS opened their own review. They acknowledged and apologised for the mistakes.

In April 2025, WCS Head of Windrush Policy Mark Brett, wrote: “I would like to take this time to once again express my deepest apologies for the errors that occurred. Our failings caused real harm to you and your family, and this cannot be undone.

“We can never make up for what has happened, but I hope this letter has offered some reassurance that we have learned from these mistakes and have taken meaningful measures to ensure they are not repeated."

Less than a year later, they implemented a new policy to include pension losses in their compensation calculations.

Charlotte said: “I’m pleased. I hope it does help everybody. I always thought that if I can get it for my dad then I can get it for everybody.

“But there’s still so much that’s really wrong with the whole scheme.”

Thomas’ loss of employment entitlement is being reconsidered, following the ombudsman and WCS reviews.

But Charlotte thinks his ‘impact of life’ claim should also be reconsidered, as the financial hit had a severe mental toll on the family’s wellbeing at a time that was always going to be one of the worst points in their lives. 

So far, the WCS has declined to reevaluate this criteria.