Recommendation 10

We noted that it has been especially difficult for some types of claimants to see progress with their claims.33 The National Audit Office reported that more than one-third of claims on behalf of the estate of someone who has died had not moved past the initial registration stage of the compensation process and at the time we took evidence only four of 132 such claims had received a payment.34 The Department told us this was because some of the people submitting these claim do not have probate or a letter of administration, and it understood that claimants had been advised that they did not require a grant of probate, 23 Qq 31–32 24 Letter from Home Office Permanent Secretary to the Committee, 22 June 2021 25 Qq 24, 26 26 Qq 26, 33 27 Q 26 28 Q 40 29 C&AG’s report, para 1.8 30 Qq 40, 74; C&AG’s Report, para 4.11 31 Qq 29, 40–42 32 Qq 40, 42–43 33 Qq 26, 72 34 C&AG’s Report, para 4.8, Windrush Compensation Scheme data: May 2021 – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), accessed 29 June 2021 10 Windrush Compensation Scheme causing them to be ‘stuck in a situation where the claim cannot be progressed because we [the Department] cannot confirm that the person had that authority’.35 The Department said it has tested this requirement with its legal advisers, and that grants of probate are legally required, but it said it would shortly bring forward a range of measures that it hopes may resolve some of these issues.36