Mineworkers Pension Scheme report welcomed by Cynon Valley MP

A new report into the Mineworkers Pensions Scheme has recommended changing the existing surplus sharing arrangements and immediately giving £1.2 billion held in the investment reserve to former miners.

The report by the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee concludes that the Government must now ‘accept its moral obligation to the Scheme members’, and acknowledge that the scheme in its current form ‘robs beneficiaries of the financial security they have rightfully earned.’

Cynon Valley MP Beth Winter has welcomed the release of the report and called for the recommendations to be implemented immediately and in full.

Beth Winter said, “The Government should not be in the business of making money out of the miners’ pension scheme while miners go out of pocket. This £1.2 billion was earned by the miners and they should receive it immediately.”

“These changes would mean an extra £14 – £16 a week in the pockets of former miners. This would make a real difference to miners in Cynon Valley and across the UK. This is long overdue, and I will press UK Government to do the right thing and implement these recommendations in full.”

Aberdare West Cllr Gareth Jones, a former miner added, “It is completely wrong that the Government has taken out over £4 billion from the scheme, while at the same time many former miners are struggling to make ends meet”

“Miners that I speak to have been campaigning about the injustice of the Pension Scheme for years. We are the ones who put money into the scheme, so we should be the ones who benefit.”