Struggling Nottinghamshire ex-miners to get billions back in pension pot amid 'epic victory'

Former miner Mick Newton, 60, pictured beside the the old pit head winding wheel at the site of the former Bestwood Colliery wearing glasses and a dark blue jacket
-Credit: (Image: Joseph Raynor/Nottingham Post)


Billions of pounds will be handed back to the pension fund for ex-miners and their families in what one Nottinghamshire campaigner has described as an "epic victory." The announcement will rectify an injustice that has lingered on for 30 years and that has been labelled by one ex-Nottinghamshire colliery worker as the "biggest pensions grab in history."

Campaigners are now hailing a "momentous" moment after Labour reaffirmed a manifesto pledge at its recent party conference, with initial pledges totalling £2.2 billion. Mick Newton, who worked at Thoresby Colliery and later became a Labour councillor, has campaigned for years for reforms to the pension pot for miners.

Mr Newton said: "We have a lot of elderly miners and widows on low pensions and hopefully we won't just see improvements to their monthly payments but also the possibility of lump sums to immediately improve the quality of lives for our pensioners." Issues surrounding the pension pot arose after it was privatised in 1994, with the government establishing an arrangement where it would split surplus money 50:50 with the mineworkers.

Miners were told that no more than £2 billion was needed to help shore up the pot for the future, but successive governments have received over £4 billion in cash payments so far. Four funds make up the mineworkers' pension scheme and Labour has already pledged to give back the £1.6 billion investment reserve fund, alongside £600 million from the government guarantee fund.

There has also been a commitment that billions will not be taken out in surplus money over the next few years, with Mr Newton hoping that no surplus money will be taken at all. The energy security and net zero secretary, Ed Miliband, said at the Labour conference: "Just as we will do right by today's generations in our energy policy, so we will do right by past generations that powered our country.

"Across Britain, hundreds of thousands went down the mines. Too often they paid the price in ill health, and even with their lives. I know it from my own constituency.

"We owe them the greatest debt. But we know there is unfinished business. The scandal of the mineworkers' pension scheme. This Labour government will honour the promise in our manifesto to finally deliver justice to mineworkers and their families. That's the difference a Labour government makes."

Although hailing the victory, Mr Newton says the promised action needs to be implemented as soon as possible given that over 100 ex-miners and their widows die every week. With around 125,000 people still in the mineworkers' pension scheme, quick action could deliver immediate improvements for former mining communities across Nottinghamshire.

Mr Newton says he and hundreds of other campaigners have had to "dig deep" over the last decades in their battle and that he now intends to enjoy his retirement. The campaign has included orchestrating a 100,000-strong petition that was handed into Downing Street.

Mr Newton added: "It's an epic victory for mineworkers. It's not just about the payback, it's about improvements year on year from now and into the future.

"A lot of people didn't expect us to get a victory of this magnitude. It's no longer a pledge, it's a promise, and the government can't go back on this now."