Pensions and Health Justice for Mineworkers

This week, Chair of the Labour Party, Ian Lavery reiterated Labour’s important manifesto pledge to end the injustice of the state taking 50% of the surplus in the mineworkers’ pension scheme. The next Labour government will make sure that the miners get 90%, not 50%, of the pension fund.

Jon Ashworth, Shadow Health Secretary, was in Clay Cross today and spoke with a group of ex-miners and their families about what a Labour government can do to best support those suffering from pneumoconiosis and other respiratory conditions caused by the mining industry. Jon is determined that Labour will make sure that ex miners will get the support they need.

Chris Peace, Labour Candidate for North East Derbyshire said: "North East Derbyshire has a proud mining heritage. I am proud that the next Labour government will be taking action to support our former mineworkers, providing them with the pensions they should rightly have and the health support they so desperately need"

Ex miner Brian Wright said: "Knowing that Labour are going to help us ex miners is such a relief. Sadly many miners have now died with lung disease. Hopefully this announcement will mean that many ex miners will live longer and also benefit from our wonderful NHS under a Labour Government"

Notes:

Researchers from the University of Leeds have assessed the links between coal mining site locations, socioeconomic deprivation and self-reported health and they suggest that there is a close relationship between coal mine locations and areas with the highest levels of standardised long-term illness with poor health decreasing the longer a pit has been closed.

A report by the Coalfields regeneration trust in 2014 identified a distinctly higher incidence of ill health in the former coalfields. Two measures from the 2011 Census – the share of residents reporting poor health, and the share reporting long-term health problems that limit their activities – flagged up an incidence of self-reported ill health in a number of coalfields that was approaching double the level in South East England.

Jeremy Corbyn visits North East Derbyshire and pledges support for Women robbed of their state pension.

Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn attended an uplifting event at Renishaw  today speaking about Labours plans to recompense women born in the 1950s who are affected by changes imposed by the Tories to the State Pension Age (SPA). In a packed room, with women from the Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) Campaign and Chris Peace, Labour Candidate for North East Derbyshire, Jeremy announced that a Labour Government will set up a mechanism of recompense for losses and insecurity they have suffered.

Jeremy pledged that Labour will compensate women with pay-outs of up to £31,000, with an average payment of £15,000. The WASPI Campaign was founded by ordinary women to fight the pensions injustice in 2015 because many women could not accept the unfair way the changes to their SPA was implemented, with inadequate or no notice. The Tory coalition government changed the law that increased women's state pension age to 65 in November 2018 - followed by 66 in October 2020. In North East Derbyshire 6,400 women have been affected by these changes.

Janet, a WASPI campaigner from Dronfield, said: "For years women have campaigned tirelessly throughout the country to highlight and fight against the unfair way the pension changes were implemented. Retirement plans have been shattered with little time to make alternative plans. This has had devastating consequences for many women and their families."

Chris Peace, Labour Candidate for North East Derbyshire said: "I have worked closely with these women born in the 1950s to campaign to get this pension injustice changed. I have listened to many upsetting stories from women who have been forced into poverty and suffered terrible stress and anxiety as a result. We owe them a debt of honour for this historical wrong and a Labour Government will change the law to ensure this kind of injustice can never happen again. Many of these women have paid into the system throughout their lives. Their contribution to our communities in North East Derbyshire is massive and they have been severely punished by a greedy Tory government who always put the interests of the rich first. Labour will deliver the scheme within the first full five year term of government."

Notes:

WASPI web link https://www.waspi.co.uk

• The amount paid for each 'lost week' would depend on the year of birth: women born between 6 April 1950 and 6 April 1960 would be paid some redress: £100pw up to 5 April 1955 and tapered down for those born after 5 April 1955.
• On that basis, the individual redress payments would vary between nil and £31,300, with an average payment of £15,380.
• The total cost of such a proposal is estimated to be £58 billion before tax, but it could be paid in instalments, e.g. £11.5 billion per annum, if paid over 5 years.
• The compensation scheme is a one-off historical redress for a historical wrong, so the state will be expected to find the money, just as it would do if the Government lost a court case, rather than a policy decision.
• Boris Johnson backed down on his previous promise during the Conservative leadership election to “to doing everything I possibly can to sorting out” the issue: https://www.express.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/1208181/state-pension-age-boris-johnson-waspi-women-latest-news.