Amelia Gentleman (The Guardian) writes about ongoing difficulties and the person “faces” of the Windrush scandal. She facilities on Joseph Mowlah-Baksh, who went to the UK as a child from Trinidad and who, “after 13 years of being shut out of the office because of documentation issues was denied advantages – and left unaware of help programmes.”
When Joseph Mowlah-Baksh utilized for incapacity advantages in February, he acquired a letter from the Division for Work and Pensions asking to see his passport, to permit officers to determine his “present standing while residing in Nice Britain”.
The previous hospital porter has lived in Birmingham since 1959 when he arrived as a child from Trinidad and has struggled for many years to get a British passport. When he acquired the letter, he assumed that he wouldn’t be eligible for the advantages, simply as he has beforehand been advised he’s not eligible for a driving licence and never permitted to work within the nation he has lived in for six a long time.
His father, Andrew Mowlah-Baksh, arrived within the UK on Empire Windrush in 1948, however Joseph was solely made totally conscious of the federal government schemes to help individuals affected by the Windrush scandal this week, throughout an interview about his father to mark the forthcoming seventy fifth anniversary of the ship’s arrival.
“I’ve been attempting to get a passport for 40 years, however there’s been one disappointment after one other,” he mentioned. He was conscious of the federal government’s guarantees to assist individuals who had been wrongly deported after being misclassified as unlawful immigrants, however didn’t perceive {that a} wider group of individuals may very well be helped by the scheme. Mowlah-Baksh has tried to get a passport a number of occasions since 1982, when his first software was rejected. He made a concerted try and get help from the Dwelling Workplace about 14 years in the past when his driving licence was not renewed due to questions on his immigration standing.
In 2011, he contacted Richard Burden, then the Labour MP for Birmingham Northfield, however a letter from Burden’s workplace describes difficulties in getting any clear solutions from the Dwelling Workplace, and his drawback was not resolved.
The request from the DWP for passport particulars with the intention to progress his declare for private independence cost, to assist with decreased mobility, has depressed him. “When persons are questioning you about your nationality and why you’re right here, it makes you’re feeling inconsequential. I’ve fought all these battles earlier than, I didn’t really feel I had the power to strive once more,” he mentioned. “You wish to transfer onwards and upwards in life, however this drawback has meant I haven’t progressed in any means. It’s like a blocked gate I can’t climb over, so I don’t know find out how to proceed.” [. . .]
Mowlah-Baksh is one in every of 5 kids, however the one baby born in Trinidad. His Trinidadian father served within the RAF through the warfare, the place he met his Irish spouse, who was working for the British military. Andrew Mowlah-Baksh settled completely in Birmingham after the warfare, travelling again from Trinidad on the Windrush ship. He and his spouse and their three oldest kids went to Trinidad for a couple of months in 1958, and Joseph was born throughout this journey. He travelled to the UK in 1959, along with his title added in handwriting on to his mom’s passport.
He has spent a long time working in development, as an NHS porter, for a funeral administrators, in factories and as a warehouse employee for Habitat, however for the previous 13 years has been unable to take paid work, since officers clarified that though he had a nationwide insurance coverage quantity he was not permitted to work within the UK. He has taken unpaid work in charity retailers as an alternative.
“I’ve had six or seven job interviews the place they’ve shaken my hand, and mentioned you’re employed, however I’ve been unable to take up the place after they’ve requested for my passport,” he mentioned. [. . .].
For full article, see https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/apr/07/windrush-victim-joseph-mowlah-baksh-dwp-documentation
[Photo above by Christopher Thomond/The Guardian: Joseph Mowlah-Baksh was born in 1958 during a family trip to Trinidad.]