More than 450 victims of historic abuse at former Lambeth children’s homes have applied for compensation since January – but survivors say the scheme is not fair.

The redress scheme, which is managed by the Lambeth Council to make sure compensation is not swallowed up by lawyers fees, provides individual redress of up to £125,000.

The scheme also includes a ‘harms way’ payment which sees anyone who lived in the network of homes receiving a stepped payment of up to £10,000.

But Raymond Stevenson, of the Shirley Oaks Survivors Association (SOSA), said victims of extreme abuse were not being paid what they were entitled to, as they were offered the same amount as those who were at risk of abuse.

He said the council did not understand the “seething anger” of survivors.

“The council fails to understand the seething anger. It’s about the way it’s been done, the injustice,” he said.

Mr Stevenson said survivors who had been assessed through the individual redress scheme were only getting a top up from the initial payment of £10,000 to match what they were entitled to – not both payments.

In some cases, survivors of abuse were having money deducted from the £10,000, he said.

“I think when it started the scheme was designed with the intentional consequence to save money,” he said.

But a Lambeth Council spokesman said the scheme, which is the first of its kind in the country, meant victims were offered “swift and compassionate redress.”

“Survivors told us that they wanted the Harms Way Payment to be up to £10,000 so people who suffered at the former children’s homes could get compensation in a non-adversarial, quick and straightforward manner with far lesser risk of re-traumatising them,” the Lambeth Council spokesman said.

“Where instances of inequalities are flagged, such as compensation for less serious abuse falling short of the harms way payment, we will review the award on a case by case basis.

“The council believes all applicants to the scheme will all get at least as much compensation than if they went to court, and the Harms Way Payment means that many people will get compensation who would otherwise have missed out entirely,” the spokesman said.

“The scheme also provides an independent appeal process to review levels of compensation, as requested by survivors,” he said.

But Mr Stevenson said survivors had to fund their own lawyers for the appeal, which was barrier to survivors seeking justice.

About 3,000 applications are expected with total expenditure billed to reach £100m  according to council documents.