THE mice were put in charge of the cheese when lawyers negotiated fees for handling miners’ compensation claims, says Barnsley MP Mick Clapham.

The Audit Office has revealed solicitors have been paid £1.3 billion for their work, 55 per cent of the £2.3 billion administration costs. Miners with crippling lung diseases have received £4.1 billion.

Mr Clapham is not surprised by the figures as he previously raised concerns about the fees - which were treated as commercial agreements between law firms and claimants.

He said: “Allowing solicitors to negotiate a fee structure which was then endorsed by courts, where they are all lawyers, is like putting the mice in charge of the cheese.”

Additional expense arose when fast tracking of cases was introduced but solicitors were still being paid a rate agreed for complex work.

Other administration costs were also needlessly high because the government underestimated the number of claims it would be hit by, according to Mr Clapham.

He predicted there would be about one million claims based on the numbers of men in the industry, including those who only worked down the pits for a few years.

To date there have been about 800,000 claims, the Department of Trade and Industry anticipated between 70,000 and 150,000.