Welcome to Industrial Injuries

The two schemes set up for miners to claim damages for vibration white finger and respiratory ailments have been a gold mine for NUM and their lawyers, Raleys. The union knocked down to a fraction of its heyday membership was struggling along with only 13, 000 member in 1998 after a membership of 171,000 in 1984.

But the victory of miners against British Coal in 1997 and 1998 was an eye opener for NUM. They wanted to help their ex-members and in the process they helped themselves- to millions.

Appearing to help the miners, NUM offered the services of their lawyers to sick ex-miners who had left the union with one catch-they needed to pay an administration fee and back dated membership fees up to a maximum of £300, all of which would be deducted from the payout after the claim was successful. Raleys would process their claim to the government. What the miners didn't realise was that the government was paying lawyers to do the job for free. There were claims handling fees already included in the Department of Trade and Industry's scheme, fixed and paid for by the government.

In January, the Law Society ruled that Raleys must pay back £300 of the £652.85 it charged a miner for processing his claim. Raleys says that that money went to NUM as fees for the miner to be reinstated in the union and to enjoy all of the benefits of the union including the legal services of Raleys. It was a quick way for NUM to increase their failing membership and anaemic bank balance.

Raleys received almost £41 million in fees from the government for filing thousands of claims. NUM helped processes 11,279 cases of white finger vibration and 44,462 cases of respiratory disease. Though Raleys claims that had the miners been forced to go to court they would have covered those costs at no expense to the now-NUM members, only 11 cases of the total processed by NUM ever needed to proceed to court.

Labour party MP for Basset , John Mann, says that the Law Society ruling has opened the door for other miners who were charged processing fees by Raleys or any other law firm, to come forward. The government has heavily criticised law firms who are charging for processing the miners' claims on top of the money the government is paying them.