Trustees expect autumn ruling on miners’ pensions

BUDGET ANNOUNCEMENT MAY RESOLVE ISSUE

- By OLIVER PRIDMORE [e-mail]

A KEY step has been taken in the fight to get billions of pounds returned to ex-miners, with the government expected to make a final decision this autumn.

Former colliery workers celebrated an early victory last year when the government delivered an uplift to the pensions scheme, giving most ex-miners an average increase of £29 per week.

But about 40,000 saw no change to their pensions, as they are members of a separate scheme.

The government has now provided an update on the campaign to deliver justice to the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme (BCSSS), which provides pensions to former management, technical, administrative, clerical and supervisory industrial-grade staff, most of whom started on the coal face.