77 years since Windrush: Looking back and looking forward
Sandra Kerr CBE, Race Equality Director, Business in the Community on connecting, inspiring and supporting the young people who descended from the Windrush Generation.
June 19, 2025
Windrush Day: 77 Years On
Sandra Kerr CBE, Race Equality Director, Business in the Community on connecting, inspiring and supporting the young people who descended from the Windrush Generation.
We are approaching the 77th anniversary of the Windrush Generation arriving in the UK by invitation on 22 June 1948, with one ambition in mind: to work, helping rebuild the UK after the devastation of the Second World War. With the threat of a new war almost a daily occurrence, we see on our screens the devastation that such conflict brings. And I’m sure everyone agrees we never want to see anything like that on UK shores again.
So, we thank the Windrush Generation for helping to build the NHS, for working on the UK transport system, for supporting with skilled engineering and non-skilled manufacturing, and for working in the many industries that existed following the war to rebuild the UK infrastructure to an even better standard than it was before.
And the legacy of these individuals can still be seen when we look at the high representation of these groups, whose children followed in their footsteps, contributing at much higher levels in the NHS, social care, and transport sectors, as well as permeating and succeeding in many other sectors.
BITC’s Race campaign, ‘Race for Opportunity’, was established in 1995, with the leadership of business and the support of HM King Charles III, the then HRH Prince of Wales. As BITC reflects on the 30th anniversary of the launch of ‘Race for Opportunity’, I want to look at where we are now and what this means for the future.
BITC entered into a collaboration with Youth Futures Foundation in 2024, and together we birthed the Talent Unlocked partnership. Recent stats provided by Youth Futures Foundation researchers and economists found shockingly that Black Caribbean young people are the most likely to not be in education, employment, and training (NEET) of any ethnic group at 29.4%. This is particularly striking given that they represent only 1.5% of the 18-24 population in England and Wales. If the gap between their NEET rate and that of White British young people (15.4%) were closed, around 10,000 more Black Caribbean young people would be engaged in employment, education, or training, offering both social and economic benefits.
This is the size of the challenge. The good news is that these are young people. This means there is much opportunity for impactful action and influence to ensure they are guided, encouraged, inspired, and supported to gain the skills they need to open a successful pathway to employment or enterprise.
My call to action for leaders, employers, and policymakers today is: what can you do to connect with, inspire, and support at least 10,000 NEET young people who are descended from the Windrush Generation, who came to successfully build and contribute to the UK economy’s growth, infrastructure, and strength?
There is an opportunity to collaborate and explore with all the key stakeholders which include young people, employee networks, and grassroots community organisations on what actions are needed.
