Overview
- Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed the transfer of the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme’s £2.3bn investment reserve to its members in the Budget.
- The Government approved a new bonus pension equal to 41% of each member’s guaranteed pension, backdated to 1 November 2024.
- Enhanced payments and backdated lump sums will start as soon as processing allows, with delivery expected no later than Christmas 2025.
- Roughly 40,000 members, including many women and widows, will benefit, with reported counts such as 738 in Easington, about 800 across North Staffordshire including 238 in Newcastle-under-Lyme, 120 in Jarrow and Gateshead East, and nearly 200 in Ayrshire.
- The move reverses a post‑privatisation arrangement that routed surpluses to the Treasury, which received £3.1bn from 1995–2015 with £1.87bn due in 2023, and brings BCSSS into line with last year’s Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme change.