The Windrush Compensation Advocacy Support Fund (WCASF) is a £1.5 million, three-year programme provided and administered by the Home Office. This fund aims to support organisations to help provide essential advocacy support for Windrush Compensation Scheme (WCS) claimants.
In Year two, the funding will support established organisations with experience in delivering Windrush Compensation Scheme advocacy support, enabling support to potential claimants within an awarded region and throughout the WCS claim process.
The UK will be divided into ten geographical regions for year two. Applicants must submit bids for the region(s) where they wish to deliver advocacy services. Successful applicants will be required to deliver a minimum of five pop-up hubs within each region they are awarded.
A total of £600,000 is available for year two (2026/27) with grants of between £5,000 and £60,000.
Grant activities for year 2 are to commence in April 2026 and be completed by 31 March 2027.
The amount of funding for year three will be provided when published.
Information sessions will be held on 15 January 2026 (10:00) and 23 January 2026 (13.00). Registration is required and can be done by sending an email to [email protected] The presentation will be available to all applicants after the final session.
Groups apply must:
- Have secure systems in place to ensure claimants’ data is securely stored, saved, and destroyed (evidence of successful organisation’s privacy policy will be required).
- Be based in the UK and are already providing a Windrush Compensation advocacy service within their community. Groups must demonstrate that they are a trust member of their community
The funding can be used for a number of different things, including but not limited to the following:
- Advocacy hours staffing. The majority of this award must be allocated to hours spent providing direct advocacy support potential claimants of the Windrush Compensation Scheme. Eligible costs include:
- Direct claimant support: Time spent assisting potential claimants with WCS-related advocacy.
- Pop-up hub delivery: Staffing costs for delivering a pop-up hub – this includes the travel to and from the location and the time spent delivering the hub.
- Travel time for attending appointments with potential claimants face to face who may be unable to receive support digitally.
- Training: Time spent receiving training specifically related to WCS advocacy support, prior approval must be obtained from the Live Running Team.
- Warm handover: Time to prepare for and complete the warm handover call.
- Start-up costs. This covers the costs associated with the mobilisation plan to allow the swift implementation and successful delivery of the project. Eligible costs include:
- Venue hire.
- Initial marketing expenses.
- Development and delivery of staff training related to WCS advocacy support.
- Staffing costs directly related to these activities.
- Administrative and Travel Costs - This covers the ongoing administrative and travel costs associated with delivering this project.
- Eligible administrative costs include:
- Administrative and project management staffing costs.
- Time taken to produce and deliver marketing materials at events.
- Reasonable costs for refreshments for external meetings and events, excluding alcohol.
- Reasonable telephone call charges, postage, and printing costs.
- Data and reporting: Time to compile data requested by the Home Office and attend.
- Monthly check-in meetings.
- Any staffing costs related to the above activities
- Eligible administrative costs include: