COUNCILLORS in South Ayrshire have given passionate backing to local women who were ready to retire at 60 only to be told they would have to work for another six years.

SNP group leader Councillor Julie Dettbarn tabled a motion that called on South Ayrshire Council to put pressure on the UK Government to use the upcoming budget as a means to ensure suitable compensation to the millions of women across the country.

The motion also called on similar action to be taken around the controversial scrapping of winter fuel payments for all pensioners.

Cllr Dettbarn told colleagues: “We’ve got a new government in place. They’ve got a budget coming up at the end of this month.

“This motion supports the recommendation of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on State Pension Inequality for Women. They were very clear in what they’re recommending.”

The change to the increase the age that women can receive the state pension was started in the mid 1990s, giving a decade and a half to put the change into practice.

However, as it began to take effect just over a decade ago, many women in their 50s who had believed they would still qualify for their pension at the age of 60, were given as little as a year’s notice that they would have to continue for another five years.

That increased to six years in the 2011 Pensions Act.

Cllr Dettbarn said: “This change, it’s been well recognised now, was not properly communicated to over 3.8 million women who were born in the 1950s until 2012.

“This gave some only one year’s notice of a six year increase to the anticipated retirement age.

“We know the figure for Central Ayrshire indicates that approximately 6,000 of the affected women work in the Troon, Prestwick and Kyle parts of South Ayrshire.

“We can deduce that at least similar numbers will be present in the Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock constituency, which covers the remainder of South Ayrshire.”

She said that the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman found that the Department of Work and Pensions was guilty of maladministration in its handling of the state pension.

Labour Councillor Ian Cavana said that he had previously voted against his own party in backing the WASPI campaign when it was discussed by the council some years ago.

He added that he was also against the winter fuel payment being removed.

He said: “The Labour Government did a survey on it [compensation], and it’ll cost £3.5 billion.

“So what? This has been the biggest injustice in this Parliament, and no matter who’s sitting in Westminster.

“All of a sudden, women who had made up their mind they were retiring at 60 because they were getting a pension, had seen it jump to 65 and then 66.

“These women have been treated diabolically by everybody, and it doesn’t matter what political party you’re in.

“We are the fifth richest country in the world, but we can’t take care of our own.”

Girvan Independent Councillor, Alec Clark, said: ”My wife would have been one of these lost women.

“This generation who had their dreams taken away from them, their retirement dreams, the dreams of being with their families, were all thrown up in the air.

“And some of these ladies were forced to work, even though sometimes their health was not good enough for them to be able to do so.”

Alba Councillor Chris Cullen welcomed the consensus, pointing to ‘changed times’ where all councillors agreed with the position, which had not been the case previously.

The motion was passed unanimously.