MINISTERS have ordered moves to speed up payments to sick ex-miners after a last minute flood of compensation claims has raised the prospect that some settlements may not be made until 2013.

Islwyn MP Don Touhig, Wales Minister, told Welsh MPs that discussions are continuing between the Department of Trade and Industry and the solicitors' claimant group to see whether payments could be speeded up.

If that proves to be the case it would have to be approved by a court but it could mean that ex-miners and their widows would have the option of either obtaining a fast track settlement or continuing to pursue their claim under the longer process.

The Argus is campaigning to get justice for ex-miners and their families who have faced delays in getting compensation for respiratory diseases caused by years of working in the pits.

Mr Touhig said that so far 25,000 claims had been settled in Wales but more than 92,000 remained outstanding.

And he revealed that in the four months before the scheme closed in March, 30,000 new claimants came forward.

"We are conscious of the need to ensure that resources are given to tackle the matter."

Bleddyn Hancock, general secretary of the Nacods union, backed the calls for more resources.

He told the Argus: "The solution to this is in the hands of the government - if they employed enough staff it could take between three and four years to settle everything."

The minister also disclosed that following government intervention some lawyers had paid back £60,000 which they had obtained from ex-miners and their widows after successfully obtaining compensation.

"Those people are nothing but parasites who prey on elderly and vulnerable people. My message to them today is: the money's not yours, give it back to the miners and their widows," he said.

Mr Touhig, who chairs Wales' monitoring group for claims which met last Monday to discuss progress told MPs at Welsh questions that £437m had been paid out to miners in payments for respiratory diseases and vibration white finger.

Plaid Cymru MP Adam Price called for additional resources. At the current rate, the last settlements would not be made until 2013, he said.