Agenda item

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 10, to consider motions on notice from Members.

(A) Motion from Councillor Janet Tait – Mine Workers Pension Scheme

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 10, Councillors were able to submit Motions on Notice for consideration at meetings of Council.

a) The following motion was submitted for consideration by Councillor Janet Tait

Mine Workers Pension Scheme

That Bolsover District Council agree to support the Mine workers Pension Scheme, in their efforts to persuade the Government to reduce the 50% they take from the pension fund surplus every 3 years by writing to Mark Fletcher (our MP) for him to lobby his government and to write to the relevant Cabinet member for work and pensions.

When the Mines closed there was an agreement struck between the Government of the day, the and the treasurers of the Mineworkers pension scheme. The Government agreed to guarantee the fund from any future failure in return for a share of the surplus, which is calculated every three years. This was at a time when the number of pension scheme members eligible for a pension would have been at its height.

Since the closure of the mines there have been no more miners joining the fund, in fact the numbers have dramatically reduced due to death of the members claiming and the deaths of their surviving spouses who could have claimed a percentage of the pension.

This means the amount the Government now has to guarantee is significantly less than it used to be and it has already taken over 3 billion from the fund, without having to pay anything back as part of the guarantee.

The campaign to get the Government to review this agreement has been a long running one, and in fact the BEIS Committee (Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee) made up of cross party MPS Concluded ‘’The government should not be in the business of profiting from miners’ pensions’’ and that any future surplus and reserves should go directly to the miners who have paid into the scheme, not the treasury’s  coffers. This was unanimously supported by the committee, which has a majority of Conservative members. The Government still refuses to move on this issue.

The number of surviving miners and their spouses reduces each year so the MPS is asking as many people as possible to write to their MPs, asking for support to get the Government to re visit this matter and re-negotiate the deal.

I believe this council, as it represents a major ex mining area, should also do the same and help to support the campaign, and I ask for its support.

Councillor Janet Tait had withdrawn from the meeting after declaring a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest, so Councillor Tom Munro moved the Motion and it was seconded by Councillor Steve Fritchley.

On being put to the vote the Motion was carried.

RESOLVED that the Council agreed to support the Mine Workers Pension Scheme, in their efforts to persuade the Government to reduce the 50% they take from the pension fund surplus every 3 years by writing to Mark Fletcher MP for him to lobby his government and to write to the relevant Cabinet member for work and pensions.