Prime Minister's tribute to Nottinghamshire ex-miners as pensions increase starts hitting bank accounts

The Prime Minister has paid tribute to the Nottinghamshire miners who "powered our country" as a pensions increase hits the bank accounts of more than 8,000. Writing exclusively for Nottinghamshire Live, Sir Keir Starmer says the return of one and a half billion pounds to the Mineworkers' Pension Scheme will benefit families "from Mansfield to Gedling, Bassetlaw to Broxtowe".

Nearly 29,000 former colliery workers across the East Midlands will benefit from the increase, which those affected will start seeing in their pockets from Friday (November 29). The increase equates to an average £100 a month uplift and follows the Labour government delivering on its promise to end the "national scandal" affecting the pensions of former miners.

The Mineworkers' Pension Scheme was privatised in 1994 and it was agreed that the government would split surplus money in half with members. Pension scheme members were told no more than £2 billion was needed to secure the pot for future.

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Yet the government ended up taking more than £4 billion and campaigners in Nottinghamshire and other coalfield areas have fought for years to get their money back. Rachel Reeves confirmed in the budget that £1.6 billion from a reserve fund would be handed back to miners.

The government also says it will review the 50/50 surplus arrangements to ensure "former miners and their families get a fairer deal in the years ahead", with further detail due on this in the coming months. The Prime Minister says in his piece for Nottinghamshire Live: "The men who worked down Thoresby, which only closed in 2015, Bilsthorpe, Clipstone, and Gedling – these were the jobs that fuelled our country. Then the Tories abandoned them.

"The injustice of the Mineworkers' Pension Scheme was yet another insult to working people. The government has kept money that rightfully belongs to the miners. We promised to right that injustice in our manifesto, and, in the Budget last month, we kept that promise.

"£1.5 billion will be transferred back to miners. That's the equivalent of an average £29 weekly boost for miners and their families. Thousands of miners and their families across Nottinghamshire will benefit, from Mansfield to Gedling, Bassetlaw to Broxtowe."

The number of former mineworkers getting the immediate uplift include:

• 3,950 in Mansfield
• 2,415 in Bassetlaw
• 738 in Gedling
• 596 in Broxtowe
• 514 in Rushcliffe
• 227 in Nottingham East & Kimberley
• 14 in Nottingham South
• 10 in Nottingham North

Secretary of State for Energy Ed Miliband said: "This government has kept its promise to return money rightfully owed to the ex-miners and their families and today thousands of people will receive the money they deserve in their pension as a result. Today marks an end to a decades-long injustice that has denied thousands across the country the decent pension that they so undeniably deserve.

"We have delivered on our promise to right this wrong and I hope members and their families are able to enjoy the victory that they have waited far too long for." The trustees of the Mineworkers' Pension Scheme said: "This month marks a historic milestone for the members of our scheme with the first instalment of pension resulting from the recent Investment Reserve transfer being paid.

"As Trustees, we're delighted that we've been able to get this extra money into our members' pockets so quickly.. We are now looking forward to discussing our scheme's surplus sharing arrangements with the government in the coming months and sharing the outcome with our members as soon as we can." You can read the Prime Minister's piece for Nottinghamshire Live in full here.