WASPI women from South Ayrshire travelled to a mass demonstration in London protest at the lack of information given to them about their state pension changes.

The next stage of their campaign took place on March 8 to coincide with International Women’s Day as well as the budget.

Undeterred by the 960 mile round trip, members of the Ayrshire WASPI group met with their fellow campaigners opposite the Houses of Parliament and joined the demonstration, which was followed by a mass lobby of MPs, including Phillipa Whitford, Patricia Gibson, Corri Wilson and Alan Brown.

Ann Fraser a coordinator of the Ayrshire WASPI group, explained that in 1995,the Government changed the law so that the age at which a woman could receive a state pension would move in line with men to 65.

She explained: “Of course we support bringing about equality in pensions between men and women, but the problem is that the government didn’t inform women when they made the change in 1995.

“Then, in 2011, the coalition government decided that the new pension age of 65 would be brought in two years earlier in 2018 and for both sexes it would rise to 66 in 2020.

“Again many women weren’t informed of this change either. We are still meeting women in Ayrshire who genuinely believe they will get their pension at 60. The lack of notice has caused real problems, not allowing women time to plan for their later retirement and pushing many into financial hardship.

The aim of the event was to ‘Bring the pensions plight of 1950s women to the attention of the government.

A spokesman for WASPI added: “Many of our women have lost as much as £48,000 of pension income and had as little as eighteen months’ notice of a six year increase to their State Pension Age. It’s no wonder that they are calling on the government to make fair transitional arrangements to their new pension age.

"We have worked hard all our lives, many of us from the age of 15, saved and supported ourselves. Now we find that after a lifetime of doing the right thing, through a lack of notice of the pension age changes, the government is taking away our security in retirement.

"“WASPI does not object to the increase in the women’s SPA, but simply the unfair and discriminatory way the changes were carried through."

For more information or to get involved in the campaign contact: ayrshirewaspi@gmail.com