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Ex-mineworkers call for share of pension surplus

Mark Ansell / BBC BCSSS members meet up to discuss thier campaignMark Ansell / BBC
Members of the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme meet regularly to plan their campaign

Former mineworkers in Yorkshire and the North Midlands are urging the government to share out a pension scheme surplus which would lead to extra payments for thousands of people.

In October last year Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the entirety of the Mineworkers' Pension Scheme (MPS) investment reserve would be handed over to ex-coal miners and their families.

However, no date was set by the government to look at a similar surplus in the separate British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme (BCSSS), which campaigners say is unfair.

Ex-miner Michael Devine said: "It's our money and it should be given back to the people who contributed."

Mark Ansell / BBC A man with bald head and grey hair at the sides, wearing metal-rimmed glasses and a white shirt with thin blue and black checked pattern.Mark Ansell / BBC
Michael Devine said the surplus should be given back to those who paid into the scheme

After October's announcement that the MPS surplus is to be shared among its members, the BCSSS said: "Given the similarities between the two schemes, we believe it's fair to ask for a similar change to BCSSS."

Mr Devine started as a miner at Brodsworth Colliery near Doncaster in the late 1970s when he was 16 years old.

He worked underground for more than 30 years and paid into the BCSSS pension.

Mr Devine called for the government to share the surplus from the scheme.

"It's just fairness," he added.

Mark Ansell / BBC A middle-aged man with bald head and wearing metal-rimmed glasses and green crew-necked top stands in a room with several people seated in the background.Mark Ansell / BBC
Phil Sherburn said it was a race against time as the scheme's members were "dying off"

Phil Sherburn, who was a mining engineer and was transferred to the BCSSS pension scheme towards the end of his career, said: "Time is of the essence.

"We're losing six members of our scheme every day because they're dying off. I'm a relatively new pensioner, I've only been in pension for just over a year now but there are guys dropping off the other end which is tragic."

A statement from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said the two pension funds operated differently and that energy minister Sarah Jones recently met BCSSS trustees and had committed to talking to the Treasury about their proposals.

"The government has taken no money from the scheme's surpluses since 2015," it added.

"All of that surplus is used purely to fund future pensions."

Mark Ansell / BBC Kim Smith, a middle-aged woman with long blonde hair and wearing a pink padded winter jacket and pink and back patterned blouse. She is standing in a room with several sets of tables and chairs and several people seated in the background.Mark Ansell / BBC
Kim Smith, who worked in the NCB finance department, said sharing the pension surplus would make economic sense

Kim Smith, who worked for the coal board in finance and administration for 13 years, added her voice to those calling for the government to share the pension surplus.

"It would help everybody because if you put that money back, increase pensions, that money would not only go into your local economy but then of course the revenue would be creaming off the income tax from it so it makes sense for so many reasons," she said.

Bassetlaw MP Jo White has been collaborating with other Labour MPs from former coal mining areas like hers to call for change.

"There are so many coalfields right across the country, so many Labour MPs elected from those ex-coalfields, we're all shouting from the same hymn sheet," she said.

"I believe that this pressure is creating that shift. I've already met with many of those MPs. We are united in fighting this cause and I'm hoping that we hear some good news in the New Year."

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