Guidance

Windrush Lessons Learned Review: proposed methodology

Updated 21 October 2021

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government

The review is expected to focus on, but not be limited to, the following:

i) The factual history of key events and activities. This is expected to include scrutiny of:

• Policy - key immigration policy decisions leading to Windrush, including primary and secondary legislation, rules and policy changes, and the level of scrutiny these received (for example, consultation, EIAs, parliamentary debate etc);
• Operations - how policy decisions were implemented in terms of operational mandates, instructions, guidance, training, systems and performance measures;
• Assurance – what assurance was carried out, what it found, and whether there were warning signs it may not have identified;
• Equality, diversity and inclusion – the extent to which equalities legislation, policy, practice and principles were considered and implemented.

The focus will be on the last 10 years, April 2008 to March 2018, informed by a historical view of legislation from 1971.

ii) Key themes and common factors arising from the handling of individual Windrush generation cases, drawing on information from wider case data, current case reviews and sampling as necessary. The review will take into consideration relevant evidence from the Compensation Scheme and Taskforce Surgeries where appropriate.

iii) The experience of people impacted by these events – people from the ‘Windrush generation’ caught up in these cases, including where appropriate their families, children and grandchildren, and also people inside the Home Office involved in handling them. We propose that this part of the review will use workshops and individual interviews to capture different perspectives on:

• What happened in practice;
• What the key factors, assumptions and other considerations were at the time;
• Wider organisational and cultural issues that may have played a part;
• How these events were experienced on a personal basis by the people impacted by these events and the people implementing them;
• An understanding of the nature and scale of the issue. Where possible identifying the number of people affected and recommending future options if gaps in information are identified.

iv) Analysis to draw out key themes, findings and lessons to be learned, including:

• Identifying key themes and lessons from workstreams (i), (ii) and (iii);
• Conducting further analysis as necessary to support findings;
• Considering legal documentation (including ongoing and settled cases in respect of those affected);
• Producing an independent report on key findings and lessons learned for the Home Secretary.

Information will be gathered primarily from internal data sources but may also draw on relevant external sources as appropriate.

Relevant documents are to be identified by:

• Digital searches of Home Office shared folders and digital repositories;
• Targeted commissions to specific individuals or teams;
• Publicly available information including, but not limited to, such as Inspection Reports and Parliamentary Committee papers;
• Archived information, including documents held in The National Archive;
• Referenced information, to include data and documents referred to in workshops and individual interviews.

Data and documents will be sought throughout the period of the review to provide evidence to underpin the findings of the report.

Particular considerations

During the review, particular consideration will need to be given to the following factors:

• Safeguarding of individuals – which must be a paramount consideration for the review;
• The law on disclosure and data protection;
• Other legal considerations, including individual rights and employment terms and conditions;
• Practical limitations on access to data, for example where this is held in archives or by third parties, and on access to individuals, for example where they are no longer in the department.
• Fairness and transparency; the approach taken by the review will be agreed by the Independent Adviser, and further assured by the Independent Advisory Group.