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The government’s promise of an “independent” Windrush Commissioner is under fire after the immigration minister confirmed that the Commissioner’s office is staffed by Home Office civil servants — the same department responsible for the Windrush scandal and the failures that followed.

In an exclusive interview with JamRadio, the Minister for Migration and Citizenship, Mike Tapp confirmed that the Commissioner’s team is made up of Home Office officials, including a Chief of Staff who has spent seven years inside the department and worked in senior roles under Theresa May according to his LinkedIn Profile. His profile also revealed he recently worked at an NGO headed up by former Prime Minister — now Baroness May, despite this, Minister Tapp insists these arrangement are “very normal”.

In an exclusive interview with JamRadio, Minister for Migration and Citizenship @MikeTappTweets confirmed that the “Independent” Office of the Windrush Commissioner is in fact staffed by Home Office officials — raising fresh questions about its independence.

JamRadio has… pic.twitter.com/QU1PRkeL4O

— Jam Radio UK News (@Jam_RadioUK) January 17, 2026

The revelations were made on the same day the Minister unveiled plans to overhaul the Windrush Scheme, following years of complaints from victims and campaigners who say the government is moving too slowly — and that many people are being failed entirely by the Home Office.

When pressed on how the Commissioner's office can be independent while being staffed by the very institution it is meant to scrutinise, the Minister said: "There's a mix of Home Office staff in there who have been 'recruited' to do the role." He argued that close ties were necessary.

“The work between the Commissioner’s office and the Home Office has to be close,” he said. “…And having those close links… is not a bad thing.”

When asked if Home Office staff are embedded within or seconded to the Commissioner’s office. A Home Office spokesperson said:

 "While they are employed by the Home Office they are fully under the direction of the Commissioner."

The department refused to disclose how many staff the Commissioner office employs, declined to say whether senior roles were advertised externally, and would not reveal what positions the Chief of Staff and Office Manager previously held. Both are confirmed to be permanent Home Office civil servants.

The Commissioner does not have direct access to UKVI casework systems. Instead, the Home Office decides what information he receives and when. All staff, including the Commissioner, are bound by the Official Secrets Act.

Roland Houslin of Justice for Windrush Generations told JamRadio:

“The impression given by the Home Office was that the Office of the Windrush Commissioner is independent of the Home Office — set up to oversee the implementation of the Wendy Williams Lessons Learned Review and deliver justice to those impacted by the Home Office scandal.”

Houslin, a British citizen by birth in the UK and a victim and campaigner of the Home Office Scandal was not allowed to return to the UK for 15 years as a child, after his parent's immigration status was affected by the Home Office. He said. "This is the very reason why the scheme needs to be removed from the Home Office."

The Home Office has created an oversight body that cannot see casework, cannot hire independently, and cannot operate without departmental permission. It is an office designed to appear independent while ensuring that no one outside the Home Office gains meaningful visibility into what went wrong — or what is still going wrong.

Another campaigner who did not want to be named siad: "Taken together, the structure looks less like independence and more like containment, the Commisoner's office is clearly a Home Office outfit and there needs to be a public inquiry."

For many in the Windrush community, this arrangement is not a fresh start. It appears as a continuation of the same culture of secrecy, dismissive ideology, and self‑protection that allowed the scandal to fester in the first place.

The government says the Commissioner will be a “trusted voice” for victims. But with the Home Office staffing his office, controlling his access to information, and shielding key details from public view, the question is no longer whether the Commissioner is independent.

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