A MOTION set to be heard at Harlow Council on Thursday, will call for a change to state pension ages for women.

The motion is as follows:

Pensions for Women Born in the 1950’s

Proposed by Councillor Lanie Shears (seconded by Councillor Mark Ingall):

“This Council calls upon Esther McVey, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and the Government to make fair transitional state pension arrangements for all women born on or after 6th April 1950, who have unfairly borne the burden of the increase to the State Pension Age with lack of appropriate notification.

Hundreds of thousands of women had significant pension changes imposed on them by the Pensions Acts of 1995 and 2011 with little or no personal notification of the changes. Some women had only two years notice of a six-year increase to their state pension age. Many women born in the 1950s are living in hardship as a result.

This Council calls upon Esther McVey, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and the Government to reconsider transitional arrangements for women born on or after 6 April 1950, so that a phased and fair implementation ensures that women do not live in hardship due to pension changes they were not told about until it was too late to make alternative arrangements.