Nottinghamshire Mineworkers Pension Campaigner slams ‘dishonest and disgraceful pension grab’ after new findings emerge

Tens of thousands of families, mainly in the East Midlands, Yorkshire and the North East of England, benefit from the pension scheme, which was taken over by the government when British Coal was privatised in 1994.

The agreement was struck between the then-Conservative government and the scheme's trustees, in exchange for a government guarantee that the value of mineworkers' pensions would not decrease.

Campaigners have claimed former miners and their families have been robbed of billions by successive governments and called for a fair share of the pension pot.

It has been five years since a petition with 100,000 signatures was taken to parliament calling for a review of the Mineworkers’ Pension arrangements for over 150,000 people.

The government has been receiving annual payments of £142.4 million since April 2021, despite a cross-party committee of MPs recommending that the government should stop taking money from the scheme and pay back some of the money it had already received.

The government rejected these recommendations, and according to data obtained by the BBC under Freedom of Information laws, the government has continued to receive annual payments.

Former Nottinghamshire miner Mick Newton, said: “Successive governments have now taken over £5 billion from the scheme and must represent the biggest pension robbery of all time.

“The government needs to suspend with immediate affect, anymore payments from the Miners’ Pension Fund and also payback monies it is continuing to take with impunity.

“Our mining communities deserve better, but are instead punished by a government who doesn't seem to care about the hardships suffered by over 130,000 former mineworkers and widows.

"The government should hang their heads in shame and stop this dishonest and disgraceful pension grab.”

According to a recent BBC report, coal-mining areas in Britain are continuing to fall behind the rest of the country.

A survey conducted forty years after the 1984 miners' strike revealed that nearly three quarters of residents in former mining communities believe that government initiatives to address regional disparities have shown little to no improvement.