Pressure grows for settlement on second miners' pension fund

Barnsley South MP Stephanie Peacock campaigned successfully for the Government to return £1.5 billion to the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme which happened late last year - giving pensioners an average increase of £29 a week.

When the National Coal Board was privatised in the 1990s, the Government took responsibility for that pension, and the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme.

Under the agreement, the state took half of any surplus - cash generated but not paid in pensions - in return for underwriting any potential shortfalls.

History has shown both schemes performed very well, with £1.5 billion going to the Government from the MPS and £2.3 billion from the BCSSS schemes.

Former coal workers have argued those funds were generated from contributions they had made and the Treasury settled the MPS dispute last Autumn, following a long campaign which had been supported by Ms Peacock.

Now BCSSS members are hoping their pension scheme will get the same windfall, which would be expected to bring a similar boost to monthly payments.

A delegation visited the MP’s office in Hoyland - to express their gratitude for the support she has shown and with the hope of organising a meeting to discuss how the campaign to get their funds - officially called an Investment Reserve Fund - returned to the scheme.

The two schemes have a complex history and date from the era when the coal industry had been nationalised.

BCSSS trustees have informed members the scheme currently has assets of £8.6 billion, including the £2.3 billion reserve fund.

They have suggested members write to Darren Jones MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, to raise the issue directly.

Former miner John Musgrave, of Hoyland, spent more than three decades in the industry, first at Elsecar Colliery, then at Silverwood.

He told the Dearne Valley Weekender: “We want the money put back in and Stephanie Peacock is the one fighting for the pensioners.

“She got it for the Mineworkers scheme and we have come to give our support to Stephanie,” said.

There are around 3,500 former mineworkers in the Barnsley South constituency, with many more across other Dearne communities.