Welcome windfall for former miners in Mansfield to help with cost of living

For the cash in lieu payments they receive via the National Concessionary Fuel Scheme are to go up by a whopping 64 per cent in October, the government has announced.

It means hundreds of ex-pitmen who receive the full payment will see their allowance rise from the current £760.17 to £1,248.72 per year.

"We are delighted,” said Alan Spencer, general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) for the Nottingham area.

"The increase is not before time because the payments have not gone up by much for a long time.

"But it is good, and we are pleased with the announcement, especially with the cost of living at the moment.

"We all need a bit of help as the price of electricity and gas goes up.”

The long-standing fuel scheme was set up to allow ex-employees of British Coal or the British Coal Corporation and their widows to receive free solid fuel, or a cash alternative, as part of their retirement deal.

Eligibility is based on personal circumstances, including type of property and living arrangements.

Most eligible ex-miners in the Mansfield and Ashfield area receive the full rate, but others are on what are known as quasi or sub rates.

Quasi rates are to go up from £506.77 to £832.47 per year and sub rates from £253.42 to £416.29 per year.

The rates for miners who used to work for UK Coal are slightly less in all three categories.

All increases are designed to reflect the UK’s Retail Price Index (RPI), which is a measure of inflation, for light and fuel in July each year. General inflation is currently rampant and hovering around ten per cent.

The rises were announced in letters to both the NUM and the Union of Democratic Mineworkers (UDM) from Jeremy Cousins, head of the coal liabilities unit at the government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Jeff Wood, president of the Mansfield-based UDM, described the news as “a welcome increase for pensioners”.

A spokesperson for the union added: “People in the scheme will be over the moon.

"It is quite a substantial increase and will help with the cost of living.”