Former collier Ken Sullivan on the miners’ pension battle:
After a claim that the UK government has skimmed £10bn from their pension pot, meaning a struggle for many, five ex-colliers have amassed the 100,000 signatures needed for their cause to be considered for debate in Parliament. By Anna Lewis
‘My wife has lived through it all, she understands exactly what the fight has all been about’
It has been a journey that has taken them hundreds of miles and seen thousands upon thousands of pages of signatures collected.
Together, a group of five men, once strangers, have spent the past three years visiting each village, town and city in south Wales to gather support for their cause.
Like hundreds of others former miners around the UK, their fight centres around the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme, which has left some pensioners surviving on as little as £60 per week.
At the same time, it has been claimed that the UK government has skimmed more than £10bn from the pension pot, set up in 1994 when British Coal was privatised.
Now, after a hard-fought campaign, the men are finally taking their battle to Westminster after collecting their 100,000th signature on their petition calling for the scheme to be reviewed in Parliament.
For 38 years Harry Parfitt was a face worker and development worker at Penrhiwceiber Colliery.
He is now 84, and there was once a stage where he campaigned alone from his mobility scooter before support for his petition swelled around him.
In a touching moment, it was his grandson who came to his door earlier this week with the final signatures.
Harry, from near Abercynon, said: “I was very pleased a member of the family had got the last 52 signatures. I’ve had quite a lot of help from my grandchildren. I have 14, and six have been taking the petition around the factories.
“I receive £78 a week from the pension so I’m not complaining, but I’m doing it for everyone else and for the money the government has robbed.”
Unbeknown to many, the situation with the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme began 25 years ago.
At the time, ministers agreed the government would act as guarantor for two pension schemes – The Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme, boasting 200,000 members, and the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme, with 57,000 members.
Under the deal, any surplus money gained from the scheme would be split 50/50 between the Treasury and scheme members.
But while it was estimated the funds would generate a £2bn surplus over 25 years, it has done better than expected.
In November, Energy Minister Claire Perry revealed £617m had been taken by the Treasury in 2018 alone. In comparison, former workers receive an average pension of £84 a week.
Harry said: “Originally I saw someone from York had posted about starting a petition and immediately got in touch with the guy and he sent me some sheets.
“I started going out on my own. The first big thing was when Jeremy Corbyn came to the Sobell Leisure Centre in Aberdare. There was my son-in-law and some young women and we collected 800 signatures, including Corbyn, the MP and council leader Andrew Morgan.”
Before long a core group of men formed – Harry, along with former miners Ken Sullivan, Emlyn Davies, Gareth Hughes and Neville Warren.
Scattered across the south Wales valleys, they are now old friends after piling into a car together week after week, accompanied by a steady stream of supporters.
Harry said: “We are all over the 70 mark but we were determined to do it and we did it. The first time we got together as a group was outside Tesco in Aberdare. We used to send the signatures up to York but they wouldn’t have anything to do with the internet so we started doing our own.
“Some days we would go to at least four places. The NUM (National Union of Mineworkers) should have assisted us but they didn’t.”
Seven years ago, former Oakdale colliery worker Ken took the decision to retire after undergoing triple bypass surgery.
Since then, however, his newly found spare time has been taken up by one thing – seeing the petition through to the end.
Ken, who receives £78 a week under the pension scheme, said: “Through the summer we went out three, four days a week, and then in the winter when the weather was bad that’s when the online petition comes in.
“Throughout south Wales we’ve gone as far as Port Talbot, Swansea, Llanelli, then around to Cardiff, Cwmbran, Abergavenny.
“But it’s also the amount of work behind the scenes – getting the petitions from others, counting them, dealing with [petition website] 38 Degrees.
“I’ve made sure we’ve had our holidays but when I go away I’m still talking to other miners. You can always convince someone to come help.
“My wife has lived through it all, she understands exactly what the fight has all been about.”
Today Ken and Eira live in the former collier’s childhood home in Tredegar. Despite Eira’s meticulous budgeting, one of her husband’s biggest frustrations lies with being unable to take her out for a meal, or treat the grandchildren to a family holiday.
The grandfather of 13 said: “We’ve done [the petition] all out of our own pockets, the fuel, every piece of paper. We always go in my own car and it’s about £20 or £30 in diesel just to get there.
“I’ve got six boxes of A4 paper to be sent off with the petition. There’s five, six reams of paper to a box.”
Next week will mark a major landmark for the group. Together, four out of five of the group’s founders will travel to Westminster and 10 Downing Street to hand over their petition.
Now the document has hit 100,000 signatures, there is a chance it will be considered for a debate in Parliament.
For the group it wouldn’t be possible without the “outstanding” support of Plaid Cymru AM Steffan Lewis, who lost his battle against cancer in January, and the support of Leanne Wood, Plaid leader Adam Price and local councillor Pauline Jarman.
Ken said: “We had 80,000 signatures five weeks ago and the UK group against the Mineworkers Pension Scheme sent all their petitions to us.
“We’re going to meet the Plaid Cymru politicians there and we’re going to watch Prime Minister’s Questions. They have tabled a question about the scheme but it’s not guaranteed.
“There’s a chance it will be debated but we need to get the right MPs for the fight to carry on.”
Gareth, a former official at Oakdale colliery added: “We’ve been elated but we’re now considering our next steps. The last debate about it was two weeks ago but nobody could be bothered to turn up, it was a shambles. This time it will be driven by us.”
The 70-year-old added: “Three years ago I started my fifth book. I wrote about four chapters and stopped – this campaign has been much more important than that.”
Addressing criticism over NUM support, Chris Kitchen, union general secretary, said: “We have assisted the campaign – we have got holiday homes in Yorkshire and Wales and we put the petitions out and sent them back a couple of times. We also organised public liability insurance for a rally in Liverpool a couple of years ago
“The difficulty is that we also have a number of issues we are fighting on a daily basis, like dealing with PIP assessments. They are not headlinegrabbing but can change an individual’s life and people don’t see that.”
A government spokesman said: “The Mineworkers’ Pensions Scheme is subject to a government guarantee which ensures that a member’s pension, including inflation increases, will always be paid.
“Members have received pensions approximately 33% larger than would have been the case without the guarantee.”