The Department of Work & Pension has confirmed that Laura Trott is the new minister for pensions, with responsibility for pensioner benefits including the State Pension, private and occupational pensions, and oversight of arms-length bodies such as The Pensions Regulator.
In an announcement on the portfolios of the new DWP ministers, the government said Guy Opperman will be minister of state for employment. Meanwhile Tom Pursglove has been appointed as minister of state for disabled people, health and work, with Mims Davies being the minister for social mobility, youth and progression.
Trott was appointed to the DWP after Rishi Sunak took over as Prime Minister. Alex Burghart had been appointed as minister for pensions and growth under the Liz Truss premiership, but he has subsequently taken up a new role in the Cabinet Office.
Guy Opperman previously held this role before Boris Johnson’s government was engulfed in a wave of ministerial resignations. Opperman was the longest serving pensions minister.
Laura Trott is the conservative MP for Sevenoaks, in Kent. She has been an MP since 2019. Before then she was a partner at the political consultancy and PR firm Portland Communications. Prior to this she worked as a special adviser to Francis Maude at the Cabinet Office, as then as a political adviser to David Cameron’s Number 10 Policy Unit on the issues of education and family. Trott was credited for formulating the party’s tax-free childcare policy. She is married with three children.
