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Former Welsh mineworkers are urging the UK government to release £2.3bn in reserves from their pension scheme so it can be paid out. The government released the equivalent money from the Mineworkers Pension Scheme (MPS) in the budget in October, but the money is still frozen for those in the alternative pension scheme, the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme (BCSSS).
Lindsey Hopkins, 75, is one of the more than 3,000 former miners that could be affected and said the government had “thrown us to the wolves” by not treating both schemes in the same way.
BCSSS pension trustee Bleddyn Hancock said he believed it was an oversight, but one which urgently needed to be corrected. “This is something we feel very strongly about,” he said. “We’ve earned this money, we’ve had to fight for the money. We’ve suffered for it, we’ve bled for it and we’ve died for it. It’s our money and we want the government to end this injustice and return our money to us.”
Under an agreement signed 30 years ago, the government has been entitled to half the surplus cash in return for guaranteeing its value, although no money has been taken since 2015. Previous Labour manifestos have said that the reserves of both MPS and BCSSS pensions would be released, however the 2024 manifesto only mentioned MPS.
Leslie Davies, 77, from Nixonville in Merthyr Vale said he was seeing former colleagues dying, and action needed to be taken soon, and equity was needed between the two pension schemes. “I don’t know why they haven’t done it because we all worked in the same industry and it’s time they sorted our pension out sooner rather than later,” he said.
Gareth Paine, 65, from Troedyrhiw said he thought the government “hope we go away” but “at the end of the day, we all worked in the same place and we all took the same risks”.
BCSSS trustees recently met industry minister Sarah Jones, with Bleddyn Hancock saying it was a positive meeting. “She was very sympathetic, and I think she’d like to do something about it, however the matter is now with the Treasury and we’re waiting for their approval which I hope we’ll get, but it’s not a done deal, so the more pressure we put on the government to end this injustice the better,” he said.
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