Financial redress for former child migrants
The Chair and Panel have recommended that the UK government establishes a financial redress scheme for surviving former child migrants, providing for an equal award to every applicant. This is on the basis that they were all exposed to the risk of sexual abuse. Given the age of the surviving former child migrants, the UK government was urged to establish the financial redress scheme without delay and expects that payments should start being made within 12 months (of the original report being published), and that no regard is given to any other payments of compensation that have been made in particular cases.
- In May 2023, the government confirmed that the financial redress scheme for former child migrants was operational and that payments had been made (Government Response to IICSA Final Report, HM Government, May 2023).
How was this evidence gathered?
Response
Accepted
Response
AcceptedThe Department for Health and Social Care announced details of the scheme on 31 January 2019 and the scheme was opened to applicants on 1 March 2019. Each eligible former British child migrant is entitled to receive £20,000, regardless of their individual circumstances. As of 15 July 2019, the scheme had received 1,728 expressions of interest, issued 1,643 application forms, received 1,475 completed applications, and made or had pending 1,452 successful payments. DHSC expects the scheme to conclude payments by April 2020.
On 22 July 2019, the UK government stated that an ex gratia payment scheme opened to applicants on 1 March 2019. This included any former British child migrant who was alive on 1 March 2018 or the beneficiaries of any former child migrant who was alive on 1 March 2018 and had since passed away. Each eligible former British child migrant was entitled to receive £20,000, regardless of their individual circumstances or payments received from other governments or through private legal action. As of 15 July 2019, the scheme had made over 1,400 payments to eligible applicants.