Mansfield campaigners react as Labour commits to bring in justice on Mineworkers' Pension Scheme

Mansfield Labour Candidate Steve Yemm, welcomed the announcement, which will see an immediate uplift in the weekly pensions of thousands of miners across the country, including Mansfield and Ashfield, if Labour win the next election.

In 2021, a cross-party parliamentary inquiry advised that the government should stop taking funds from the scheme and deliver a fair deal for miners.

Recommendations were rejected by the government and data released to the BBC in March 2024 showed that the government has received three annual payments of £142.4m since then.

Labour MPs including Rachel Reeves, Ed Miliband, Darren Jones, Yvette Cooper, and Stephanie Peacock have been involved in a long-running campaign “demanding a better deal for miners” alongside organisations such as the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).

The Labour Party has confirmed in its General Election manifesto that it will review the unfair surplus sharing arrangement and return the Investment Reserve Fund to the miners.

The investment reserve currently sits at £1.6 billion.

This change will increase the weekly pensions received by miners by at least £14 per week, as estimated by the select committee.

Mick Newton, a former Thoresby miner and campaigner, expressed his delight at the announcement, calling it a “massive step forward” for former mineworkers, widows, and mining communities.

He said: “May I take this opportunity to thank all those who have campaigned on this injustice and express our thanks to the Mansfield Chad for the support given to us over the years.

“The Chad have been superb in the reporting of our campaign.

“Pensions are savings and deferred wages. No government should profit from occupational or workplace pensions.

“We should remember that mineworkers worked in hazardous life threatening conditions and many lost their lives while trying to earn a living.

“It's been a long, hard, and at times, difficult struggle over the past thirty years, but we are now in sight of the finish line and I'm overwhelmingly thankful for all those that have played a part in this epic struggle.

“I'm so pleased that thousands of former mineworkers, widows, and their families may at long last see justice and benefit from long-awaited improvements to their pensions.

“However, we do need to reflect upon all those who have lost their lives and didn't get to see this historic injustice rectified.

“We look forward to sitting down with MPs in the near future to negotiate a way forward to the benefit of all members of the mineworkers pension scheme.

“We need to remember that successive governments have taken our jobs, our health, our communities, and our pensions.”

Steve Yemm, Mansfield’s Labour parliamentary candidate, said: “I am incredibly proud to confirm that a Labour government will deliver justice for the thousands of families here in Mansfield and across the coalfields that have been affected by the injustices of the Mineworkers Pension Scheme.

“Implementing this policy will see an immediate uplift in the weekly pensions of thousands of miners across the country.

“The select committee report estimated returning the investment will lead to an estimated £14 per week increase in pensions, the exact figure will depend on the size of the fund, the most importantly members of the mineworkers' pension scheme will see an increase in their pensions.”

Alan Spencer, General Secretary of the Nottingham area NUM, welcomed the news.

He said: “I spoke on this issue at the 2021 Labour Party Conference – seconded by Stephanie Peacock MP who as worked alongside the union and the motion was passed unanimously to be included in the manifesto.

“Following on from that commitment, this has been the result of a lot of hard work and countless meetings in parliament by the NUM, other unions, supporting MPs, Facebook groups and individuals contacting their MPs.

“In 2021, the cross-party Business and Trade Select Committee recommended that the surplus sharing arrangement, which started in 1994 following the privatisation of the coal industry, where the government took billions without putting any money into the scheme, should be reviewed.

“They suggested that the £1.2 billion at that time (now standing at £1.6 billion) in the Investment Reserve Fund should be paid back into the Pension Scheme, giving the members an immediate increase in their pensions.

“However, the government rejected these recommendations.

“Following on from the surplus sharing arrangement which the NUM voted against – it was forecasted that the government estimated that they would receive £2 billion throughout the lifetime of the scheme in profit.

“They have received nearly £5 billion to date.

“The NUM’s view is we have paid for the guarantee without the government taking any more in surpluses of our pensions.

“Should the Labour party be elected to form the next government, the NUM will be meeting with ministers to ensure these manifesto commitments are acted on as soon as possible.

“The Tories have rejected any change to the pension scheme.

“I believe the Labour Party once elected is the mineworkers only hope of addressing this scandal. We have waited too long.”

“Our country owes a debt of gratitude to the mineworkers and their communities, who built our country,” said shadow energy secretary Ed Miliband.

He added: “It was never right that the government profited from unfair pension arrangements – taking money that rightly belonged to miners.

“Families are struggling to make ends meet during the cost-of-living crisis and this extra money could make a huge difference.

“Implementing this policy will see an immediate uplift in the weekly pensions of thousands of miners across the country.”