Stephen Byers, the trade and industry secretary, is to order a review of the cases of coal miners dismissed in the dispute who were then refused re-employment.
A Whitehall consultation paper will be issued within weeks to set up a panel to assess 170 cases.
The move is intended to help heal the deep scars which still exist in many coalfield areas, inflicted when the then prime minister Margaret Thatcher decided to crush Arthur Scargill's National Union of Mineworkers in a bitter year-long battle.
A friend of Tyneside North MP Mr Byers said last night: "Stephen recognises there is a sense of grievance in many mining areas over the perceived injustice that stems from the 1984-85 strike. He is likely to consult interested parties on options available to tackle the concerns."
The tactics employed by the police and the National Coal Board were widely criticised during the walkout, after the Conservative government decided that it must win the dispute, whatever the cost.
A total of 1,014 pit workers were sacked when managers were ordered to crack down on strikers in a bid to drive them back to work. Most were later reinstated.
Managers were accused of firing workers without fair hearings and the police of merely arresting the nearest pickets during trouble.
The review will focus on the 170 miners sacked and not reinstated who did not have their cases considered by an industrial tribunal.
All lost their occupational pensions as well as their jobs. A large number of those, who are now past retirement age, exist on basic state pensions.
Coal pensions may still be withheld from 78 of the 170 convicted in the courts of criminal offences.
But a Whitehall source predicted that many of the rest could receive more than £150 a week each, given the assumption that they would have been employed well after the dispute ended in March 1995.
Mr Byers believes a number were treated unfairly and paid a high penalty by losing their pensions as well as their jobs.
The panel's decisions will rely heavily on how they interpret mines and quarries legislation, risking fresh rows over who wins and who loses.
A group of colliers at Polmaise, in Scotland, were fired after technical breaches following a short occupation of surface buildings.
Pit workers at Betteshanger, in Kent, were dismissed after effectively seizing control of the mine for three days.
Awarding pensions to the Scots and not to the miners in Kent would trigger complaints of fresh injustices and possibly a legal challenge.
"This is going to be fraught with difficulties but we cannot let that put us off," said the senior Whitehall source.
The review has been pushed through by deputy prime minister John Prescott.
Before moving to the DTI last December, Mr Byers used his last day as treasury chief secretary to sign-off £1.5bn to settle a compensation claim from pit workers suffering emphysema and other lung diseases, and £500m to settle vibration white finger claims.
The potential £500,000 a year cost of the pensions could easily be met by the mineworkers' pension scheme, which has a huge surplus.
Of the 1,014 sacked during the year-long confrontation, 548 were reinstated shortly after the dispute, and another 130 after a later review. Industrial tribunals heard 166 cases, deciding 103 were fairly fired and 63 unfairly dismissed.
The government hopes the review of the remaining 170 will send a powerful signal to coalfield areas as it seeks to revive depressed communities.
The move will fall short of Mr Scargill's demand for a public inquiry and reinstatement of all sacked miners.
But it was endorsed last night by the former head of Nacods, the pit deputies' union, and Labour MPs in coalfield areas. Peter McNestry, who was the Nacods leader during the dispute, said: "This is a step in the right direction."
Houghton and Washington East Labour MP Fraser Kemp, said: "The loss of pension rights was a gross injustice to many miners during the dispute. Any steps taken to put right Tory wrongs are to be welcomed."
