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

Annex C - Glossary of Key Terms used in this Guide

Activity

This means conduct that occurred while a qualifying individual was engaged or participating in activity supporting or opposing the miners’ strike.

This would include conduct that occurred in the course of an organised picket or demonstration. It would also include informal strike activity, such as an altercation or a disturbance in the community or a spontaneous demonstration.

Ancillary Activity

This means conduct that occurred while a qualifying individual was engaged or participating in activity such as assembling before or after or travelling to or from activity supporting or opposing the miners’ strike.

For example, conduct that occurred between qualifying individuals attempting to reach a picket line and police seeking to block them. Another example would be an altercation between qualifying individuals and police as people were dispersing following activity in the community.

Bail Etc. (Scotland) Act 1980

An Act of the UK Parliament (now repealed) which amended the law of Scotland relating to bail and the interim liberation of persons who have been arrested and made provision in respect of the sittings of the sheriff and district courts. At the time of the strike, section 3 of the 1980 Act criminalised a person for not complying with a condition imposed on bail (see Breach of Bail).

Breach of Bail

The conduct which breached the bail condition must itself meet the pardon criteria.

An example of such conduct is a qualifying individual returning to the picket line in defiance of a bail condition prohibiting the qualifying individual from doing so, because the individual broke the bail condition in the course of taking part in activity supporting the strike. However, if a qualifying individual who had been charged with a strike-related offence breached a bail condition by threatening an eye-witness, then a conviction for that breach of bail would not qualify for the pardon, because threatening a witness would not be activity supporting or opposing the strike or ancillary activity.

Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act 1875

An Act of the UK Parliament (now repealed) which amended the law of the United Kingdom relating to Conspiracy, the Protection of Property and for other purposes. At the time of the strike, section 7 of the 1875 Act criminalised a person who carried out a specified act wrongfully and without lawful authority with a view to compelling another person to abstain from doing or to do something which that other person had the legal right to do or to abstain from doing.

The limited data available suggests that there were 16 convictions under the 1875 Act related to the strike - all of which took place in Strathclyde region, but it is not possible to ascertain whether this was definitely the case, given the passage of time. In the context of the strike, it is possible that the conduct would have included for example, a gathering outside the home of a working miner. The offence on conviction carried a maximum fine of £50 and/or three months imprisonment. There is no evidence that anyone was imprisoned as a result of convictions. Therefore, it is likely that the conduct that led to such convictions could be considered to be on the lower end of the scale – similar to conduct charged as a breach of the peace. There is anecdotal evidence which suggests that similar type conduct would have been prosecuted as a breach of the peace in other regions.

Conviction

This means any finding in criminal proceedings that a person has committed an offence or done the act or made the omission that they have been charged with.

The meaning also includes the scenario in which a person was unfit for trial and there was instead an examination of the facts, at which a court examined the available evidence and made a finding as to whether the person did the act or made the omission constituting the offence (but there is no conviction). It also includes an absolute discharge, which is deemed not to be a conviction (other than for limited purposes).

Excluded

This means conduct that occurred for a reason unrelated to the miners’ strike.

Conduct which just happened to take place at, or on the way to or from, strike activity (but could equally have taken place in another context) would not be covered by the pardon. For example, a conviction of breach of the peace following a dispute about a personal matter would not be pardoned.

Household

For an individual to be classed as being in the same household as a miner for the purposes of the pardon, the individual must have lived with the miner as a family or other unit.

It does not matter whether the individual and the miner were related so, for example, a group of friends who rented a flat together would constitute a household. A lodger could also count as a member of a household if the lodger was living as “one of the family”.

The individual and the miner must have been living in a private dwelling that was their only or main residence and they must have had shared cooking facilities and shared a living room or sitting room or dining area.

Miner

An individual who was employed by the National Coal Board, or a small mine licensee at any point between 12 March 1984 and 3 March 1985 (inclusive). It does not matter what role the miner had. The definition of ‘miner’ under the Act includes, for example, all underground workers, all surface workers and those employed in workshops that were situated away from the coal mines.

There is no need for a miner to have been employed in Scotland. A miner could have been employed in any part of Great Britain. As long as the conviction was from a Scottish court, it does not matter that an individual did not live in Scotland and had travelled from outside Scotland to participate in strike activity.

Miners’ Strike

This means the national concerted stoppage of work by miners led by the National Union of Mineworkers which took place from 12 March 1984 to 3 March 1985 (inclusive).

Miners’ Strike (Pardons) (Scotland) Act 2022 (Consequential Modifications) Order 2024

An Order made in exercise of powers conferred on the UK Government under the Scotland Act 1998 and which amended section 3 of the Miners’ Strike (Pardons) (Scotland) Act 2022. This Order came into effect on 22 January 2025.

Pardon

The effect of the pardon is that certain individuals who were convicted in Scotland of certain offences committed during the 1984-85 national miners’ strike are pardoned automatically for those offences if the qualifying criteria of the pardon are met.

The pardon does not affect any conviction or sentence, give rise to any right, entitlement or liability. For example, a pardon does not create any right to financial compensation and it does not reverse any decision made by the judiciary at the time

The pardon also does not affect the prerogative of mercy – that is, the common law power of the Crown to issue a pardon, commute a sentence or quash a conviction.

Police (Scotland) Act 1967

An Act of the UK Parliament (now repealed) which consolidated certain laws relating to police forces in Scotland. At the time of the strike, section 41(1)(a) of the 1967 Act criminalised a person who assaulted, resisted, obstructed, molested or hindered a constable in the execution of his duty or a person assisting a constable in the execution of his duty.

Qualifying offence

This means:

• The common law offence of breach of the peace;
• breach of bail, which at the time of the strike was covered by section 3 of the Bail etc. (Scotland) Act 1980;
• an offence covered by section 41(1)(a) of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967 (see meaning above);
• an offence covered by section 7 of the Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act 1875 (see meaning above); and
• the common law offence of theft.

Qualifying individual

This means an individual (including a deceased individual) who was a miner or who was (at the time of committing the offence) a member of the same household as a miner or a parent, child or sibling of a miner.

Responding

This means conduct that occurred in response to activity or ancillary activity (see meaning of ‘activity or ‘ancillary activity’). For example, where a qualifying individual responded with general threats or insults to strike-related abusive comments made by another individual.

Sibling

This means an individual who (at time of the commission of the offence) had at least one parent in common with a miner - so a half-brother or half-sister of a miner as well as a full brother or sister.

Theft

The conduct that led to such an offence must itself meet the pardon criteria. This is the case when the offence of theft was committed by a qualifying individual to relieve economic hardship arising from participation in the miners’ strike – whether their own participation in the strike or somebody else’s.

The 2022 Act

This means the Miners’ Strike (Pardons) (Scotland) Act 2022 which came into effect on 27 July 2022 and was amended on 22 January 2025.