A COUNCILLOR who was left £50,000 out of pocket and forced to sell her family home due to state pension age hikes has told of the ‘devastating’ effect that government failures have had on local women.

Sandra Reynolds and colleague Pam Armstrong have revealed that they have both missed out on tens of thousands of pounds as they issued a renewed call for women left out of pocket by a decision to increase the state pension age.

The pair spoke out about the issues faced by the so-called WASPI women at a recent full council meeting and secured the backing of their fellow elected members for their demand for reimbursement.

The Parliamentary and Health Ombudsman stated in a recent report that the government failed to adequately inform women born in the 1950s about the impact of changes made through the 2011 Pensions Act, which accelerated the timetable for state pension equalisation.

As a result, women like councillors Reynolds and Armstrong did not receive their pensions at the age of 60 as they had originally planned.

Councillor Reynolds told her colleagues about the ‘devastating’ impact the changes and decades of other injustices had on many WASPI women.

Greenock Telegraph: Councillor Sandra Reynolds on Gourock Prom..

She said: “I don’t have the desperate stories or situations of others, even though I’ve had nearly £50,000 taken from me, and that does not include the loss of endowment money and my house.

“However, it doesn’t mean that I’m unaffected.

“I only knew of the change in my state pension age to 62 through my union, and since then there’s been nothing.

She continued: “My divorce agreement was based on a number of factors, including my state pension age which at that time was 60.

“I lost thousands due to endowments not paying out and had to sell my family home during the housing price slump in order to pay off my mortgage, again losing thousands of pounds.

“Caring responsibilities were also curtailed due to my financial inability to reduce my working hours, meaning my family struggled to balance work and family life.”

The two councillors are calling for all women who missed out on money due to the changes to be compensated and, in cases where those women have passed away, for the money to be paid to their estates.

Councillor Reynolds told the Tele that she believed the issues with the state pension age built on decades of historical inequalities that women her age had faced - such as a lack of maternity pay and being offered lower wages than their male counterparts.

Her words were echoed by her SNP party colleague councillor Armstrong, who is less than a year from retirement but still does not know the exact sum she will receive for her pension.

She says that contributions she has made are yet to appear on her pension forecast, meaning she cannot tell how much she will be given.

She said: “I know that months ago I paid two years’ worth of contributions because I lived abroad for a period and the last time I checked they still weren’t showing.

“I can show I’ve made those payments, but I have absolutely no confidence that making those payments is going to lead to them paying me a fuller pension when they pay it to me.

“I’m in a very privileged position where I can pay the missing years.

“But I’m now less than 50 weeks from when I should be getting my pension and I’m not sure whether I should pay another year or not.

“I’ve lost the most amount of money because I’m in the last tranche of women affected, but I’ve also had the most time to prepare.”

Councillor Armstrong said it was important to recognise that the impact of the changes had been far more profound on some than they were on others and told how, despite the recent publicity around the issue, there were still many people who did not know they had missed out.

Greenock Telegraph: Councillor Pam Armstrong clearance of tipping ground Belville Street..

She said: “Just this morning I was contacted by a constituent.

“She had not been in touch with anybody about this issue, ever.

“You think there is more publicity with this but there are still people out there who are dealing with this on their own.

“Even now there are people who do not understand that this is happening and do not know that they can get support.

“We’re all in the same storm, some of us have a life raft and others are drowning, but it’s all down to luck whether you are or not.”