The Department of Work & Pensions has confirmed that Alex Burghart will be the new minister for pensions and growth.
His official title is Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Department for Pensions and Growth — which expands on the previous role of pensions minister, and underlines the new government commitment to a growth agenda.
Burghart has previously served on the Work and Pensions select committee. He has also served as minister for skills in the Department of Education. Burghart, a former teacher, was also a special adviser to Theresa May during her period as prime minister.
Many from across the pensions industry welcomed the appointment, which comes several weeks after the previous incumbent, Guy Opperman announced on September 20 that he would no longer be continuing in the role.
Aegon head of pensions Kate Smith says Burghart will have a number of issues to address. These include “providing reassurance to savers in these current tumultuous times”.
She adds: “Pension policy has been a hive of activity in recent years, and there’s still much unfinished business. Top priorities for the new minister include getting pension dashboards over the line, continued focus on raising pension awareness, introducing a plan to implement the recommendations of the 2017 review of auto-enrolment, finding pension solutions for the self-employed, progressing with the proposed Value of Money framework, and working across government and regulators to better support pension savers with retirement decision making.”
Hymans Robertson partner Patrick Bloomfield says Burghart starts his new job “at a worrying time” with the Bank of England’s emergency bond buying scheme concluding within days.
“Further challenges await the new minister with the current cost of living crisis continuing to grow, but we believe there is an opportunity to make a strong and committed start to his role, through learning about how policy decisions impact the end user and listening to industry concerns about existing policies.”
TPT Retirement Solutions DC director Philip Smith adds: “One of the most pressing priorities for Burghart will be ensuring the pensions dashboard programme is successfully rolled out. Once up and running, the dashboard could transform how people engage with their pensions, but large IT projects often have teething problems.”
He adds: “Another priority will be helping the industry to navigate the challenging economic conditions with rapidly rising inflation. The cost of living crisis threatens to seriously reduce pension savings amongst low earners, while also putting pressure on scheme running costs.
“Finally, reforms of automatic enrolment will be needed in the next few years to ensure more people build up their savings for retirement.”