Key Takeaways
- • Chancellor John Healey faces renewed pressure to release the remaining £1.2 billion held in the Guarantor's Fund within the Mineworkers' Pension Scheme (MPS), according to Press Association reporting published by Nation.Cymru.
- • At the recent Budget, Healey announced that MPS and British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme members will receive 100% of scheme surpluses, ending the previous 50-50 split with the Government, but the Guarantor's Fund transfer has no committed timescale.
- • MPS trustees said they are cautious about the Chancellor's pledge and argued the work is complete and undistributed surplus should be transferred to members now.
- • Several Labour MPs, including Linsey Farnsworth and Samantha Niblett, have publicly pressed for immediate release, with Niblett pledging to donate her next salary increase to charity until members are paid.
- • The Conservatives, led on the issue by shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith, criticised the Budget's tax measures, which MPs are due to debate in the final Budget session on Tuesday.
Summary
Chancellor John Healey has faced fresh calls to release £1.2 billion held in the Guarantor's Fund of the Mineworkers' Pension Scheme (MPS), which was closed to new members when the British Coal Board was privatised in 1994. Labour MP Linsey Farnsworth told the Commons on Monday she feared her father, a former miner with late-stage dementia, might die before receiving the "justice that he deserves," noting that around 19 former miners die every day. Fellow Labour MP Samantha Niblett has pledged to donate her next annual parliamentary salary increase to charity until miners and their families receive what they are owed.
The dispute centres on the original arrangement under which the Government promised the fund's value would not decrease, but only half of investment surpluses went to pension bonuses while the Government took the other half. At last week's Budget, Healey announced that MPS and British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme members would receive 100% of surpluses, and said "every penny of the pension fund surplus now goes to miners." He also pledged to "ensure the full transfer of the Guarantor's Fund" in future, but MPS trustees said they were cautious that this was not a guarantee or a commitment to a specific timescale, and insisted the work had been done and funds should be transferred now.
Treasury minister Dan Tomlinson said the Chancellor knows "the job is not done" and is "working at pace to agree a way forward." Several Labour MPs had signed a letter to Healey stating they "cannot see a justification for withholding the money that belongs to scheme members alone" and urging immediate approval of the release. MPs are due to hold the fourth and final day of the Budget debate on Tuesday, where the Conservatives have vowed to oppose several proposed tax rises, including an alcohol duty increase in line with inflation and a temporary additional 3% bank surcharge. Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith said Healey's Budget would take the tax burden to a historic high.
The dispute centres on the original arrangement under which the Government promised the fund's value would not decrease, but only half of investment surpluses went to pension bonuses while the Government took the other half. At last week's Budget, Healey announced that MPS and British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme members would receive 100% of surpluses, and said "every penny of the pension fund surplus now goes to miners." He also pledged to "ensure the full transfer of the Guarantor's Fund" in future, but MPS trustees said they were cautious that this was not a guarantee or a commitment to a specific timescale, and insisted the work had been done and funds should be transferred now.
Treasury minister Dan Tomlinson said the Chancellor knows "the job is not done" and is "working at pace to agree a way forward." Several Labour MPs had signed a letter to Healey stating they "cannot see a justification for withholding the money that belongs to scheme members alone" and urging immediate approval of the release. MPs are due to hold the fourth and final day of the Budget debate on Tuesday, where the Conservatives have vowed to oppose several proposed tax rises, including an alcohol duty increase in line with inflation and a temporary additional 3% bank surcharge. Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith said Healey's Budget would take the tax burden to a historic high.
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