Ashfield MP Lee Anderson will tonight (Thursday) challenge the government over the mineworkers pension scandal. When the mining industry was privatised in 1994, the government agreed to guarantee miners’ pensions in return for a 50 per cent take of any surplus generated by the scheme. This has generated billions of pounds of revenue for the government in the intervening 30 years – money which campaigners say rightly belongs to miners and their widows.
In April 2021, the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee said that the government would be unlikely to ever contribute anything to the scheme, but would, by the end of it, have received a minimum of £6.3 billion in total.
“Whether or not the government knew in 1994 that it would disproportionately benefit from the arrangement, and whether all parties thought it was fair at the time, is irrelevant”, the select committee said. “It is patently clear today that the arrangements have unduly benefited the government, and it is untenable for the government to continue to argue that the arrangements remain fair.”
The committee were critical of successive government’s response, saying: “Governments should not be in the business of profiting from mineworkers’ pensions. We are therefore disappointed by the government’s argument that the 1994 agreement is a success because the public purse has had strong returns from it.
“The government is not a corporate entity driven by profit-motives, and should not view miners’ pensions as an opportunity to derive income. We also note that allowing the arrangement to continue would appear antithetical to the government’s stated aim of redressing socio-economic inequality and ‘levelling up’ left-behind communities.”
They called for “a more appropriate arrangement” than the 50:50 split going forward, and for the £1.2 billion surplus then in the investment reserve fund that would be transferred to the government by 2029 to be distributed instead to pension scheme members. “This would roughly equate to a £14 per week uplift for members on the average pension of £84 per week”. The committee added that a £22 per week uplift could be attained if a further £0.7 billion in the guarantor’s fund was also distributed to members.
The government rejected the committee’s recommendations. In June 2021, the minister for energy, clean growth and climate change, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, wrote to the committee saying: “The government does not accept that it has benefitted unduly from the arrangements which have been a success and benefitted all parties. Indeed, the concerns about the extent of payments to the government for its share of surpluses have only arisen as a result of the scheme’s success. Had the investments not provided as good returns over the years, we would not be having this debate, but scheme members’ pensions would be considerably lower.”
Last night, Lee Anderson said: “I have raised this issue many times since being elected but now I finally have my own debate. Over 25 per cent of our country sits on old coal mines so let’s hope for a much fairer deal for ex miners, their widows and families.”
An adjournment debate is not a full debate, but an opportunity for Members of Parliament to raise specific concerns with ministers in a more detailed way than they can during question time. Contributions to the debate are limited and the time allocated is half an hour before the House of Commons rises. Today’s adjournment debate is expected to take place late afternoon.
