Coalfield MPs will force a debate on the broken miners’ pension promise if it is not resolved within weeks, openDemocracy understands.
Labour MPs in former mining heartlands have been “lobbying hard behind the scenes” since the government quietly dropped a promise to release more than £1bn from the Mineworkers Pension Scheme (MPS) from last week’s Budget.
Sources involved in government discussions told openDemocracy that a last-minute technical bungle within the Treasury was to blame for John Healey removing the measure, which would cost taxpayers nothing but provide more than 100,000 ex-miners with an extra £20 per week in their pensions.
The government has now pledged to release the money “within weeks, not months” – meaning it could still reach miners before Christmas as planned – after more than 40 MPs wrote to the chancellor to complain.
Jon Trickett told openDemocracy that MPs have warned the Treasury they will table an amendment to the Finance Bill if ministers fail to meet this timeline.
“After an apparent blunder the day before the Budget, it is clear that the Treasury didn’t understand the strength of feeling their decision would provoke,” Trickett said. “But I am hopeful that we will see justice for the miners in the coming weeks and I, along with my colleagues, will continue to fight hard for this.
“Speaking for myself, and, I am sure, for others, I will not rest until justice is done.”
When British Coal was privatised in 1994, John Major’s Tory government struck a much-maligned deal to guarantee the two primary miners’ pensions if they ever fell into deficit. In exchange, the Treasury demanded 50% of any investment surplus.
The funds performed well enough that the government never had to pay a penny into them, but still got access to the reserves. Miners have lost out on more than £4.4bn as a result, according to the National Union of Mineworkers.
As chancellor, Rachel Reeves released one of the MPS’ funds in 2024, and the sole fund for the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme, whose members were generally better-paid, non-mining staff, last year.
After months of discussions and assurances from ministers, campaigners and coalfield MPs expected Healey to release the final pot of money, the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme, this week, freeing up £1.2bn according to MPs’ estimates.
Instead, former miners were left furious when the Budget left them without a timetable to receive the money – and no explanation for the government’s last-minute U-turn.
openDemocracy understands there was a technical misunderstanding relating to the source of the cash.
While the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme guarantor’s fund is not taxpayer money, but a share of an investment surplus generated and held by the pension fund, the government’s claim to it still needed to be accounted for in the fiscal headroom under certain accounting standards, according to Treasury sources.
MPS trustees who have held meetings in coalfield areas in the week since the Budget report that many members feel “distraught” and “betrayed”. The government initially offered no timeline for resolving the issue, prompting significant concern about a prolonged process.
openDemocracy understands the trustees have invited the chancellor to a meeting in his South Yorkshire constituency, home to around 2,200 MPS members, later this month.
A trade union source said they worried the political damage had “already been done”, with miners feeling “angry they’d had something taken away that they’d been promised”.
Gary Saunders, chair of the trustees, said: “The trustees welcome the chancellor’s commitment to resolve the issue of the Guarantor’s Fund in weeks rather than months. But our members need action within days. Every week, 100 of our members pass away.
“For them, delay cannot be undone. The Trustees have worked with the government in good faith throughout this year, and an agreement is ready to sign today. Signing it would allow us to start making payments to our members by the end of this year. We ask the chancellor to come to the table now and resolve the issue in the coming days so that more members can receive these payments during their lifetimes.”
Opposition MPs have also pushed for the Treasury to release the funds. Reform said if it wins the next general election and the funds have still not been released, it would transfer them within the first 100 days in office.
Chris Kitchen, the general secretary of the NUM, welcomed the chancellor’s commitment to release the funds within weeks, not months.
“We are pleased that the government has recognised the injustice and committed to resolving this, and releasing the money. Weeks are better than months, but days would be better than weeks, as time is working against our members.
“At the budget, the chancellor rightly took the other steps to make right the historic injustice of the miners’ pensions, and we are confident he will put right this final issue.”
Healey did use the Budget to end the 50:50 split of future surpluses between the government and members, telling MPs: “For ex-mineworkers, I'm guaranteeing that every penny of the pension fund surplus now goes to miners. I know the job's not done, and I will go on to ensure the full transfer of the guarantors' fund.”
The chancellor also abolished the “standstill” rule, under which bonus pensions could be frozen if the scheme fell into deficit.
