Families of retired miners fear losing out on payouts for industrial disease due to Covid-19

• Video report by David Hirst

Families of former miners in our region say they fear that the Covid-19 pandemic could rob them of future payout claims for industrial disease.

More than 20 MPs representing former pit towns and villages have urged Health Secretary Matt Hancock to step in.

They want him to reassure ex-miners who are in poor health that their medical history will not be ignored if they die during the coronavirus crisis.

Dave Buttle from South Emsall lost his father Len last month.

Like many retired miners, Len's lungs were damaged by years of breathing in coal dust underground. He had pneumoconiosis.

Dave says his father tested negative for coronavirus before he died in hospital last month.

However, on his death certificate, doctors listed one "probable" cause of death was Covid-19.

Dave disputed this but was told this is the case for everyone who dies while in hospital. Dave says Len was only in hospital for nine hours.

That relaxation in the rules governing the completion of death certificates during the pandemic has led The National Union of Mineworkers, which represents more than 30,000 ex-miners in Yorkshire alone, to start a campaign.

The Department of Health and Social Care said it understands the concerns of former coal miners and their families. It adds that a doctor is legally obliged to notify a coroner if death is due to disease attributed to a person's job.

Former Yorkshire NUM official John 'Inky' Thomson has the lung disease COPD. He says he's instructed his family to request a post mortem when he dies to confirm whether industrial disease was the cause.