The local authority has praised Patricia for her campaign work and formally recognised her crusade.
East Ayrshire Council has lent its backing to a woman who is battling a tech giant and 11 other multinationals over what she claims is a pensions ‘injustice.’
Patricia Kennedy, from Coylton, is a chair of the HPPA UK (Hewlett Packard Pensioners Association) and the Pre-97 Pension Justice Alliance of 12 “household name” companies who say they have faced ‘significant hardship’ over the last two decades due to changes in their pension plans.
The group claim they possess massively-reduced pensions from their pre-1997 contributions, because current legislation only index-links contributions from ‘97.
And they want the tech giants to ‘make good’ on the value of the pensions which are supposed to provide financial security.
A new bill, supposedly designed to make reforms to UK pension schemes, is currently making its journey through the UK Parliament and was debated on yesterday.
However, the Pension Schemes Bill 255, still does not address the hardship faced by the pre-1997 campaigners.
Now East Ayrshire Council has given Pat’s crusade formal recognition and support.
At a meeting of members, Councillor Jim Todd proposed a motion, urging the local authority to recognise the plight of many East Ayrshire pensioners who have found themselves in the same situation as Pat – namely with inflation -eroding pensions.
The motion also urged members to write to the UK Secretary for Work and Pensions (Pat McFadden) seeking help in ensuring that the amendment to the Pensions Scheme Reforms Bill 255 erases the ‘dividing line’ of 1997 and to create a statutory requirement for ‘indexation’ for all pensioners to prevent the further loss of pension value.
Councillor Jim Todd said at that meeting: “Prior to 1997, companies could decide if they would index-link their future pensions for their employees.
“After 1997, it has to be index linked to inflation. But there’s a lot of big companies who grabbed the opportunity not to future proof their private pension to their employees and this motion is about making it an equal across the board increase for pensioners.”
He added: “There are companies out there who are not paying index-linked pensions to pensioners which is bringing them into pension poverty. Hopefully they will rightfully get the money they should have got at the start.”
And Councillor Peter Mabon was successful in adding an amendment to Cllr Todd’s motion, requesting that the council supports Patricia and ‘acknowledges’ her hard work and that of her follow campaigners.
Cllr Mabon added: “I’ve got to know Patricia Kennedy quite well, she’s the spearhead of the campaign, she is also now leading a bigger pre-1997 umbrella campaign. We need to recognise the fantastic work Patricia and her supporters have put into this campaign, including travelling down to Westminster for drop-in sessions.”
In Ayrshire, the issue has a direct bearing on the former employees of UK Digital Equipment Corporation.
The firm employed people at their plant at Mosshill Industrial Estate, Ayr, between 1977 and 2002 – until it was wound down by new owners Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
In 1998, Digital Equipment merged with Compaq, and in 2001 that organisation, in turn, merged with Hewlett Packard who stopped paying indexation.
In 2015, Hewlett Packard split, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise took over responsibility for the Digital pension scheme.
And it is estimated that around 1,500 people across the Ayrshire region could be affected by what campaigners claim are ‘massively reduced’ pensions.
The new Bill was debated at Westminster yesterday (Wednesday, December 3).
Pat said: “The debate of the Pensions Schemes bill centred not on the complex Bill itself but on the Pre-97 pension justice issue. Starting with Dame Nia Griffith’s amendment and expanding to speakers from across the House; it’s very clear now that all parties see the “open wound” and want to get on with its immediate treatment before more Pre-97 pensioners pass away.”
