Miners' Strike (Pardons) (Scotland) Act 2022: pardon eligibility self-assessment guide - updated January 2025

Introduction

1. The Miner’s Strike (Pardons) (Scotland) Act 2022 came into effect on 27 July 2022. A copy of the Act and explanatory notes are available separately at www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2022/6/contents/enacted ^[1].

2. The 2022 Act provides a pardon to certain people who were convicted of certain offences which were committed in Scotland between 12 March 1984 and 3 March 1985 and which were related to the Miners’ Strike. The pardon is automatic, which means that there is no application scheme to obtain a pardon. This is because it is recognised that it will be very difficult now for people to provide documentary evidence of any criminal conviction linked to the strike, given the passage of time.