The Windrush scandal was no mistake – it was a failure on every level

Analysis: The Lessons Learned review, which has finally been published, shows that root and branch reform of the Home Office is the only option, writes May Bulman

Immigrants to Britain from the West Indies at Southampton in 1956 (Getty)

Systemic operational failings”, “institutional ignorance and thoughtlessness” and a “culture of disbelief and carelessness” are not features one would hope to find in a government department. But in the Home Office, it was these problems that led to Commonwealth citizens who had lived in Britain for decades being stripped of their rights, according to the long-awaited Windrush Lessons Learned review.

The report, by inspector of constabulary Wendy Williams, was commissioned nearly two years ago, when it emerged that under the Home Office’s watch, British citizens from Commonwealth countries – notably from Caribbean nations – had been wrongly dismissed from their jobs, denied NHS treatment and even been deported from the country they call home.

Although it has ended up coming at the most unfortunate time, the review makes for crucial and damning reading. It highlights how attempts by successive UK governments to demonstrate they were being tough on immigration – by tightening immigration control and passing laws creating the hostile environment – showed a “complete disregard” for the Windrush generation. And that in doing this, the department was hampered by a “culture of disbelief and carelessness” and ingrained “ignorance and thoughtlessness”, partly consistent with institutional racism.

Most vitally, though, are Ms Williams’ recommendations, which essentially call for an overhaul of the Home Office’s approach to immigration. She says it must “look beyond trying to explain Windrush as an unlucky series of mistakes, but instead recognise it as a historical series of events deeply embedded in current and past structures, policies and cultures”. This will mean cultural reform, with changes in behaviour at all levels and functions throughout the organisation – “up and down, and from side to side”.

It will be no easy feat, but this scale of change is essential. It has become all too common for people – both from the Windrush generation and others who were not born in the UK – to find themselves cast out of society after being led to believe they belonged. A standout and repeated point Ms Williams makes is that Home Office policy should be rooted in humanity, and that means starting to see those it deals with as what they are – people.

The home secretary said she would bring forward a detailed formal response to the report in the next six months. Now the British people – notably MPs, charities and journalists – must watch closely to ensure this review does not mark an end in itself, but the start of much-needed change.