The Pits

Camilla Turner writes:

Andy Burnham has been accused of betraying miners over a pension scheme U-turn. Ministers had indicated to backbenchers that a £1.2bn payout to surviving miners and their widows from the controversial Guarantor’s Fund pension scheme would be announced in the Budget. The fund was set up in 1994 after the Government intervened to underwrite miners’ pension payments following the privatisation of British Coal. In return for providing a guarantee, the Government gained half of any surplus generated by the scheme’s investments, a deal that had netted the state almost £8bn by 2024. 

Labour has long backed calls for the Government’s share to be paid out to miners. However, in an apparent last-minute about-turn, ministers declined to sign an agreement allowing the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme (MPS) payout to be released immediately. A letter signed by a dozen Labour backbenchers criticised the decision: “We understand the fiscal pressures on the Treasury, however, in light of the facts, we cannot see a justification for withholding money that belongs to scheme members alone.” 

Before becoming Prime Minister, Mr Burnham called the situation “a disgrace and an injustice” and pledged that if he were in a position to do more he would “keep fighting to make sure every promise is honoured and every penny reaches the people it is meant for”. In its 2024 election manifesto, Labour promised to “end the injustice”, and subsequently returned £1.5bn to the 100,000 surviving members of the MPS. It also handed back £2.3bn to around 43,000 members of the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme (BCSSS), who had been managers, engineers and safety officers in the coal-mining industry. The £1.2bn that remains in the Guarantor’s Fund is the balance of what accrued to the Treasury over three decades. 

‘Political distress’ for coalfield MPs

Jon Trickett, a veteran Labour MP and one of the letter’s signatories, told The Telegraph: “I didn’t find the explanation given to me by the Treasury to be plausible. We need an immediate resolution to this matter. Miners and their families are telling me that they feel betrayed.” Another Labour MP said: “There is obvious frustration among Coalfield MPs that this wasn’t sorted. We had been led to believe it had been sorted. They have sorted the BCSSS one.”

A third backbencher added: “Not doing the payout has really caused a lot of political distress for those of us with mining constituents. All the signalling to the MPs and the pension trustees was that they will get the £1.2bn. At the last minute, we got told that it counted against the headroom so couldn’t be done.” Mr Burnham was understood to be “blindsided” by the Treasury’s last-minute decision. On Friday, he insisted that a “big step was taken” in the Budget towards resolving the issues surrounding the MPS. The Prime Minister told broadcasters:

“The commitment is in no way diminished. We will come to a full solution that is about fairness and justice for the miners. The only thing I would say is that, obviously, the Budget didn’t give us all of the room for manoeuvre that we would have wanted and we have been operating in a changing climate. It does have to be scored on the public balance sheet and that is part of the challenge that we’ve got, but there is full commitment here from me, from the Chancellor, to deliver everything that people have waited a long time for, but also what people deserve. And we will. I understand these issues. It wasn’t right for that swipe to be taken from their pension part all of those years ago. We will work and keep going at this until we’ve got a full solution that delivers.”

In a statement, the MPS said: “What the Chancellor has said [in the Budget] is that the Government will ‘ensure the full transfer’ of the undistributed surpluses to members. The trustees are cautious that this is not a guarantee to either do this, or a commitment to a specific timescale.” They added: “The trustees feel strongly that, once again, MPS members are not being treated equally and are receiving a second-class deal.” The Treasury declined to comment.

There is a lot of this sort of thing. For example, Mark Thomas writes:

A fight born from collapse

If you ask most people what they were doing 24 years ago, they will probably struggle to remember. For John Benson and Phil Jones, the answer is immediate: “We were fighting and campaigning for our lost pensions.” These proud Welshmen, now in their eighties and facing ill-health, are still fighting after the collapse of their works pension fund following the failure of their Cardiff-based employer, Allied Steel & Wire (ASW), in 2002. John, Phil and around 1,000 fellow workers lost promised retirement funds when a £21 million pension shortfall was uncovered. It began an epic Dafydd v Goliath battle between determined Welsh steelworkers and successive governments. They have now worked through nine Prime Ministers and numerous Pensions Ministers, including James Purnell, now Burnham’s Chief of Staff. 

From Cardiff to Westminster

Their battle has also coincided with the early history of Wales’s devolved democracy. With Rhun ap Iorwerth, they are now on to the seventh First Minister. In that time, thousands of emails have been sent, petitions submitted to the Senedd, UK Parliament, House of Lords and Number 10, and protests held in Cardiff, London, Brussels and Luxembourg. It is difficult to comprehend the workload they have absorbed, or the mental strength needed to keep going as a small voluntary group. They received many cross-party assurances that their pensions would be restored and justice served. In their view, those commitments were never properly fulfilled. They see echoes of their struggle in the experiences of Post Office workers, WASPI pensioners, victims of contaminated blood, and Grenfell and building safety campaigners.

Protection without full justice

Public pressure eventually led the UK Government to launch the Financial Assistance Scheme and the Pension Protection Fund, securing up to 90% of victims’ basic core pension values. But the payments were not index-linked. Without proper inflation-proofing or coverage for pre-April 1997 service increases, the real-term value of their pensions eroded dramatically. The latest chapter has seen the new UK Labour Government introduce the Pension Schemes Act 2026, addressing pre-1997 service increases with Consumer Prices Index uplifts capped at 2.5%, scheduled for January 2027. But John argues that, compared with what they paid into their ASW scheme, the proposed adjustments still fall far short of full restitution.

The human cost of delay

John and Phil’s determination, despite huge setbacks and what they see as political failures, marks them and their fellow campaigners as exceptional. Their goal is simple: to secure what was rightfully theirs — a decent pension they could live on. Instead, proud colleagues struggled to find work in later life, many forced into low-paid jobs in their 70s and 80s. John himself stacked shelves in Marks & Spencer and loaded passengers’ luggage at Cardiff Airport to make ends meet. Between such jobs, his time was absorbed by campaigning and lobbying. As the years have passed, many colleagues and campaigners have died, often leaving widows to struggle financially. Still, John, Phil and their dwindling band battle on. Like other long-running social justice campaigners, they believe their continued presence is uncomfortable for a political class that may prefer the issue to fade from view. So, they persist, exuding a dignity and camaraderie seldom seen in today’s industrial and commercial world.

A difficult Whitehall meeting

Earlier this year, John and Phil travelled to London to meet the new Pensions Minister, Swansea’s Torsten Bell, to discuss the ongoing crisis and the Government’s response. It was an unusual summit: two elderly former steelmen from Wales’s lost industrial heritage meeting a young policy thinker at the heart of the UK Labour Government. In Whitehall, they were supported by independent Senedd MS Rhys ab Owen, one of the ASW workers’ most eloquent advocates, who had initiated the meeting. Rhys was following in the footsteps of his late father, Owen John Thomas, who had campaigned forcefully for ASW workers in the early years of devolution. It is striking that two generations of Senedd MSs have sought justice that remains unfulfilled. 

Campaigners bound by injustice

John and Phil were joined by Richard Nicholl and Terry Monk, who lost company pensions in a similar scandal. Like them, they have devoted huge parts of their lives to fighting for fellow workers and pensioners. That team spirit, and burning injustice, has bound these men together for so long. The meeting did not go well from the campaigners’ perspective. Bell acknowledged the injustice and agreed that what had happened to the ASW workers was wrong, but his final message was not what the group had hoped for. The response left them disappointed. John later described Bell’s attitude as “arrogant” and says Bell is among the most disappointing Ministers he has encountered in 24 years. His team were also frustrated to learn that Bell would continue in his role as Pensions Minister under the new Burnham administration.

Letters that fall short

In a letter sent in January this year to Mark Drakeford, then Welsh Finance Minister, Torsten Bell accepted the shortfall of the new Government’s response: “I appreciate that this proposal may not go as far as some would like.” In August, the new Secretary of State for Wales, Stephen Kinnock wrote to Phil Jones and acknowledged “that many former ASW workers remain disappointed that the changes do not go further”. It’s difficult to comprehend the crushing impact that these letters have on campaigners. Their sense of understatement is testimony to a government machine that after 24 years, is still able to sidestep a widely acknowledged social injustice.

John contrasts these latest Government responses with a letter he received from former Secretary of State for Wales Cheryl Gillan, written after she left office in 2012. “Dear John, I am so sorry I could not do more for you and your colleagues. IT IS SO WRONG.” John and Phil met her by chance years later in Westminster’s Portcullis House while meeting Labour MP and trade unionist Jack Dromey. John recalls Dame Gillan saying she still thought about ASW Cardiff and could not understand why the workers had been treated so unfairly.

Two decades of political promises

Talking to John, Phil, Richard, Terry and Alan Marnes, another long-standing campaigner, you realise they have met a “who’s who” of the last two political decades. In Wales alone, the names include Natasha Asghar, Mick Antoniw, Andrew RT Davies, Mark Drakeford, Nick Bourne, Jane Dodds, Mike Hedges, Jane Hutt, Eluned Morgan, Darren Millar, Sam Rowlands, Bethan Sayed and Leanne Wood. In Westminster, they have enjoyed support from Julie Morgan, Jenny Willott, Jonathan Evans, Elfyn Llwyd, Hywel Williams, Liz Saville Roberts and Lord Dafydd Wigley. 

John and Phil are particularly positive about Wales’s new First Minister, Rhun ap Iorwerth, with whom they have previously engaged. But it remains to be seen whether he can change Westminster’s response when so many before him have failed. John’s frustration is often directed at Westminster Labour and Conservative politicians, whom he believes have repeatedly let down his fellow workers. Across the UK Labour and Conservative parties, there is hardly any senior politician they have not lobbied or met. With nine Prime Ministers and numerous Pensions Ministers in the background, their fight is truly epic. John argues that ASW could probably have been saved with a relatively small cash injection to update the plant, contrasting this with recent government support for jobs at Port Talbot and Scunthorpe.

Why some injustices move faster

They also point to the UK Government’s transfer of a £1.5 billion investment reserve back to members of the Miners’ Pension Fund, providing an immediate 32% pension boost. In the campaigners’ view, successive governments have still failed to resolve the ASW injustice. It raises a difficult question about why some causes receive more political attention than others. 

A dwindling band still fighting

For John, Phil and their tight band of campaigners, the fight goes on. Many are now battling the effects of age and ill-health. John recalls a meeting with Pensions Minister Steve Webb at the Welsh Office in London: “Of the seven ASW members who attended, four of those brave fighters have already passed on.” It is still hoped that, after so much effort and pain, the new UK Government will find a way to bring closure to what campaigners regard as a deeply painful case of injustice. As each year passes, the estimated cost appears to decrease, but with so many politicians already come and gone, it remains to be seen. John and Phil fear the latest responses are not encouraging.

Recognition for outstanding Welsh citizens

It is also hoped that some form of official recognition will be shown to John, Phil and fellow long-serving campaigners Richard, Terry and Alan. Their lived demonstration of camaraderie, community and respect for fellow workers sets them apart as outstanding Welsh citizens. None seeks such recognition; their single-minded focus remains the full restoration of their pensions. But whatever the outcome, Wales is a better place for their determination, community loyalty and selfless endeavour.

As for any safety net, let Albert Toth disabuse you:

Nearly 200,000 families will be pushed into poverty or deeper poverty due to Labour’s decision not to end the freeze on housing benefits at the Budget, leading charities have warned. In an open letter to prime minister Andy Burnham, seen by The Independent, groups including the Trussell Trust, Generation Rent and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation say that maintaining the measure will “critically undermine” his commitment to end rough sleeping.

The formula used to calculate housing benefit levels – the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) – has been frozen since April 2024. The mechanism is designed to ensure benefit levels are in line with at least the lowest 30 per cent of rents in any local area. But as market rents have continued to surge, the shortfall between LHA rates and affordable rent hit a record 23.3 per cent in October. This means a shortfall of around £200 a month for renters in London, and £100 a month for the rest of the UK.

She told The Independent: “Basically, you don’t have a life, you’re just existing because all your money is just going to live. It just takes every penny, and especially now with the energy... It gets you down very much because you don't know what's going to happen from one month to the next.” Private renters will be around £700 worse off per year by 2029 without action, figures from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation showed, pulling 50,000 into poverty for the first time. Around 60,000 will also be forced into deep poverty, and 80,000 into very deep poverty, the research indicates.

In the UK, households are in poverty if their income after costs is below 60 per cent of the national average, falling to below 50 per cent for ‘deep poverty’ and below 40 per cent for ‘very deep poverty’. The 19 signatories, also including Shelter and The Salvation Army, have urged Mr Burnham to reconsider the continued freeze, and spend the £1.7bn needed to end it, alongside the introduction of an inflation-linked rent cap to limit rising costs. The letter says: “You have been clear that tackling homelessness is a top priority. These two steps would bring your vision within reach by tackling the cost of rent and ensuring that housing support for those who need it actually covers the cost of a home.”

Holly Williamson, chief executive of Generation Rent, said that it is “hugely disappointing” that the government maintained the LHA freeze. She added: “When housing benefit doesn’t cover the rent it forces families into impossible decisions, traps them in poverty and leaves them vulnerable to homelessness, with councils picking up the pieces. This decision also brings into question the government’s goal of ending rough sleeping, as it will mean there are very few affordable long-term homes for people currently sleeping rough.” 

Joanne, who lives with her 22-year-old daughter and works 10 hours a week at a local supermarket, suffers from fibromyalgia, spondylitis, and is recovering from breast cancer. She says she can’t afford to move to a bungalow because it would cost her even more. “It doesn't take a genius to work out, you know, the landlords are allowed to put their rent up every year, but the price cap doesn't go up. It’s so unfair,” Joanne said. “I just wish whoever makes that decision just lived a couple of months in our shoes, and they'd realise it's not working, it doesn't work.” She has been supported by Citizens Advice, whose research team recently found that more than half (58 per cent) of all privately renting households across Great Britain receiving housing benefit now are not getting enough support to cover their rent.

Ahead of the Budget, the prime minister announced a further £432m towards his pledge to end rough sleeping at a summit with several leading campaigners and frontline charities. This brings the total funding commitment to £874 million, coming alongside an extra £1.5bn for the government’s affordable housing programme. While both announcements were welcomed by experts, many continue to warn that the continued LHA freeze is exacerbating the UK’s housing crisis by pushing more people towards homelessness. There were a record 135,580 families living in temporary accommodation as of March 2026, the most recent official figures show, housing 177,530 children. Councils in England spent a record £2.9bn on temporary accommodation in the year to April, equating to just over £8m a day and marking another record high.

Signatories of the open letter tell the PM that around 8 in 10 (78 per cent) of low-income private renters receiving housing support are now going without essentials, adding that “this reality becomes untenable and they can no longer afford to stay living in their homes, and councils are left to pick up the pieces.” A government spokesperson said: “We’re determined to turn the tide on poverty and ensure people can access secure, affordable homes. That’s why we increased Local Housing Allowance rates in 2024 at a cost of around £7 billion over five years, while also investing over £40 billion in affordable and social housing and launched a £1 billion Crisis and Resilience Fund. Alongside this, our landmark Renters’ Rights Act will protect tenants from unfair rent hikes and bidding wars, while we’re building the homes this country needs to help tackle the root causes of housing affordability pressures.”

And the fact that even Britain’s merely middling level of welfare spending by OECD standards still translated into near-bottom individual benefit generosity and value, is a significant factor in the Poundland crisis in which Robert Jenrick has sought to intervene. In between that and his denunciation of the Boriswave, that member of the Government that denied that any wrong had been done in relation to Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme now tweets:

Today, Reform UK calls on the Government to finally settle the mine workers pension scheme (MPS) and pay its members before Christmas; if it fails to do so, Reform UK commits to doing so within 100 days of entering Government. To the dismay of many, the Chancellor failed to set a clear and unambiguous timetable for resolving the MPS in the Autumn Budget. The Prime Minister was also unable to provide the clarity miners deserve when subsequently questioned.

Enough is enough. Miners and their families have waited too long. Tragically, 18 ex-miners die every day without the fair resolution of this matter they deserve. The members must now be paid by Christmas. If that does not happen, a Reform UK government will end surplus sharing and the standstill mechanism and immediately transfer the undistributed surplus funds (including the Guarantor’s Fund) to MPS members. No more messing around. Miners can be assured that they will get the resolution they have been denied until now under a Reform UK Government.

Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP, Reform UK Shadow Chancellor 

Lee Anderson MP, Reform UK Chairman