A CALL for Inverclyde Council’s leader to demand that thousands of Inverclyde women affected by state pension changes be compensated without delay has won the backing of councillors.

SNP councillors Pam Armstrong and Sandra Reynolds tabled the request at at a Municipal Buildings meeting in an effort to highlight the injustices faced by the so-called WASPI women.

The Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) group has lobbied the government on behalf of women who were affected by changes imposed by the 1995 and 2011 Pension Acts.

The two councillors called for local authority leader Stephen McCabe to write to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, as well as their Shadow counterpart, and ask that the 5,600 local women left out of pocket by the changes be swiftly compensated.

The two elected members have requested that the letter points out the ‘very considerable’ difference between the compensation requested by the WASPI campaign and the compensation which has been recommended by a national ombudsman.

They have also asked for the correspondence to request that compensation be paid to the estates of women who have died waiting for the situation to be rectified.

The motion’s passing marks the third time that Inverclyde Council has highlighted their plight.

Councillor Armstrong said: “I am a WASPI woman, this is a matter that has concerned me greatly over many years.

“It’s shameful that this is the third motion that we’ve had.

“I think it’s regrettable that a third motion is required.

“It’s important for a number of reasons, I think there’s a fairness argument, these women have lost money and were the victims of maladministration who suffered an injustice and should have been compensated.

“The fact that they cannot receive the benefit...should not stop their beneficiaries and their families from at least benefitting.

“But there’s another argument, a lot of us WASPI women suspect that delays in making any kind of decision are only to allow more of us to die.

“If the principle is that the payment should go to all WASPI women - whatever is agreed - that takes away that argument.”

The motion also noted that an investigation had shown maladministration and injustice on the part of the DWP in relation to areas of state pension reform and said that the lack of acknowledgment of this maladministration is ‘unacceptable’.

Seconding the motion, Councillor Reynolds told her colleagues that she too was disappointed that the council was having to raise the issue yet again.

She added: “I am dismayed that it’s necessary to second this motion.

“WASPI women were born in the 1950s and their complaint is not about making the state pension age equal with men, although this is still an issue for some that are demanding full restitution.

“It is about the lack of notice of the change in pension age which left millions of women unable to plan financially for their retirement and in many cases left them with no income.”

The motion was backed unanimously by councillors at the meeting.