{"id":170237,"date":"2024-11-07T19:23:26","date_gmt":"2024-11-07T19:23:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/07\/whitehaven-ex-miner-calls-for-unjust-pension-payment-change\/"},"modified":"2024-11-07T19:23:27","modified_gmt":"2024-11-07T19:23:27","slug":"whitehaven-ex-miner-calls-for-unjust-pension-payment-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/07\/whitehaven-ex-miner-calls-for-unjust-pension-payment-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Whitehaven ex-miner calls for ‘unjust’ pension payment change"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Whitehaven<\/div>


\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"BBCBBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Dave Cradduck worked in the ventilation department at Haig Pit in Whitehaven <\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

A former miner who is among those missing out on extra pension payments is calling for the government to address the “injustice”.<\/p>\n

A pension boost for those signed up to the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme (MPS) was announced in last week’s Budget, to address what Energy Secretary Ed Miliband called a “scandal”<\/a> in historic management of the fund.<\/p>\n

Dave Cradduck, who spent 20 years working at Haig Pit in Whitehaven, Cumbria, said it was “unjust” that “not a penny” would be given back to those on a different scheme.<\/p>\n

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) said the pension funds operated differently and it “must consider the two schemes separately”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

When coal mining was privatised in 1994, the government agreed to guarantee miners’ pensions.<\/p>\n

It also said it would put aside some of the pension fund profits, in case the fund did not have enough money in it later.<\/p>\n

Ex-miners had campaigned for years for money to be returned to them and the government has now pledged to return about \u00a31.5bn to 112,000 former coalminers and their families.<\/p>\n

It only applies to those who were part of the MPS and not those, like Mr Cradduck, who were signed up to the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme (BCSSS).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

‘Our money’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
\n

Mr Cradduck said it was “immoral and unjust”.<\/p>\n

The 77-year-old said the government had taken \u00a34.8bn out of the MPS fund, and \u00a33.2bn out of BCSSS, therefore those on the scheme were also owed money.<\/p>\n

Mr Cradduck, who worked in the pit’s ventilation department ensuring the flammable gas underground was kept to safe levels, added: “I greatly wonder whether they’ll ever do anything about it.<\/p>\n

“It’s not their money, it’s our money – we just want our own money back. <\/p>\n

“Is that too much to ask?”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\"GettyGetty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Mr Cradduck worked at Whitehaven’s Haig Pit for 20 years <\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

Mr Cradduck said although promises about the pension fund had been made by previous governments, this was the first time any money was going to be paid out.<\/p>\n

“They obviously think it’s an injustice, and if it is, why isn’t the other scheme treated as an injustice as well?”<\/p>\n

Those affected are writing to MPs to ask for their concerns to be raised in Parliament.<\/p>\n

A DESNZ spokesman said it was open to considering any proposals for changes from the trustees of the BCSSS.<\/p>\n

They added: “The BCSSS operates in a different way to the MPS, with the government taking no money from the scheme\u2019s surpluses. <\/p>\n

“All of that surplus is used purely to fund future pensions.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BBC Dave Cradduck worked in the ventilation department at Haig Pit in Whitehaven A former miner who is among those missing out on extra pension payments is calling for the government to address the “injustice”. A pension boost for those signed up to the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme (MPS) was announced in last week’s Budget, to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/bbcx\/grey-placeholder.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[603],"tags":[1187,487,132183,8675,7472,107652,97772],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170237"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170237"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":170239,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170237\/revisions\/170239"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}