Delight over council's £60,000 grant victory

The Yorkshire Compensation Recovery Service, which was set up to help ex-miners get compensation for conditions like vibration white finger, agreed to pay Doncaster Council a 60,000 grant plus 25,000 in costs.

Independent councillor Margaret Pinkney, said: “It’s been a long, hard road to get this money back and I came in for a lot of criticism for continuing to push it.

“This settlement just proves I was on the right track all along.”

Neil Swan, a former town councillor and independent parliamentary candidate who played a central part in uncovering the ‘Donnygate’ scandal, also backed the campaign to start an investigation.

He said: “This issue dates back to the dark days of Donnygate.

“Public money was used to start up the YCRS and there were meant to be a series of checks and balances on the use of that money that were never implemented.

“The company used false documentation to gain the money in the first place.

“I’m surprised to see the council claiming credit for this - had it been up to them there would never have been an investigation at all.

“In all it’s a perfect example of the way Donnygate worked.”

Part of the settlement was a confidentiality clause which prohibits the council from releasing details but Paul Evans, interim strategic director for organisation, development and culture said: “This is good news for the council.

“There had been a real concern that if we released this information without the Information Commissioner’s decision, the council could have ended up in court itself.

“This decision allows the council to share a good news story – that we recovered the grant as well our costs.”