A MOTION calling on the Government to look more favourably on state pension arrangements for women born between 1950 and 1956 received the support of Bradford Council this week.

The motion was brought at a full meeting of the Council on Tuesday by Councillor Anne Hawkesworth (Ind, Ilkley) after she was requested to do so by many women from Wharfedale and beyond.

The women are part of the Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaign which was set up after the UK Government accelerated the process of equalisation of pension ages for men and women meaning that women born in the 1950s will lose out on thousands of pounds.

Cllr Hawkesworth gave a speech calling on support for the motion saying: "It is not about feminist sisterhood objections to the equalisation of pension age between men and women. What it is is a request for HM Government to stop playing ducks and drakes with a small group of women's state pension expectations and their consequent planning for retirement. The combination of the pension acts of 1995 and 2011 and subsequent secondary legislation

has introduced massive changes for a small group of middle-aged women without providing adequate notice and which will potentially wreck the reasonable plans many of them have made.

"These changes have meant that at very short notice women, who when they started their working life expected to retire at 60, were told when nearly 60 that it would be 62, which they then reluctantly reconciled themselves to, accepting that it was part of equality. Two years on from that however they found that they would have to wait until 66.

"It is true that that both men and women will be pensionable at 66, but women born between 1951 and 1956 are extremely adversely affected.

"On talking to many in this age group it is not just dashed expectations and disappointment that stand out, as might be expected, but also other factors.

"One example is that some women retired at 60 accepting that the retirement age had moved to 62, and believing they could “just about manage” for a couple of years only to find that they now have to just about manage for six years with little or no notice. A very different matter meaning many of these

women will suffer “hard times”.

"In conclusion, I ask you all to support this motion which requests that the present government looks more favourably on introducing transitional arrangements for women born within this limited time scale. Many will pay tax on any pension they receive, and the cost to the treasury will fall year by

year until the last woman involved attains 66.

"After all, they have seen sense on National Insurance for the self employed. now lets hope for a re-think to introduce transitional arrangements in order to remove an unfair disadvantage from a group who are at the end of their working lives."

The motion was carried, although the Conservatives voted against it.

Hi the motion was carried.

The whole of the council supported it.

The Conservatives sadly voted against.

The essence of my speech was given.

The reason I believe it was succesful was the unfairness and short notice given to these few women particularly for those born between 1950. 56.

today it is often very difficult for relatively small groups who believe they have a beef about the way they have been treated to get themselves heard by central or local government, quangos or big business, either because they naively believe that reason will prevail or they cannot aford the professional

organisation of the big lobbying groups, or both. so, whilsti am sorry there is the need to bring this motion before council i am happy to have the oportunity to do so as requested by so many wharfedale keighley and north yorkshire residents even as far away as thirsk.