Guy Opperman has become the longest-serving pension minister, having been in the post for five years today. This is the longest period that one person has held this role, since the post was created in 1998.
Opperman was appointed to the role in the June 2017 by the then prime minister Theresa May, a year after she downgraded the DWP role to parliamentary under-secretary of state.
Opperman overtakes Steve Webb, who was the pensions minister for almost five years, having been appointed in 2010 as part of the coalition government. Webb, a liberal democrat MP, who is now a partner at LCP, lost his seat in the 2015 election.
The first pension minister was LabourMP John Denham who held the role for just five months. From 1998 to 2010 there were 9 different pension ministers, with Stephen Timms, holding the position on two separate occasions.
The Department of Work and Pensions said Opperman had overseen a number of measures during the past five years, which have helped transform and improve pension savings in the UK. This has included the full roll out of automatic enrolment, last year’s Pension Schemes Act, alongside legislation on pensions dashboards, progress towards net zero and collective defined contribution schemes.
Opperman said: “I’m proud of the progress made, especially our landmark Pension Schemes Act which made pensions safer, better and greener. I am excited about what’s still to come as we work to ensure the record number of Brits now savings for a pension can achieve the best retirement possible.”
Webb praised Opperman for the progress made on dashboards, CDCs, and a focus on how scheme money is invested, particularly with regard to climate change, infrastructure and illiquids. However he said further reforms were need on automatic enrolment including the implementation of the 2017 review of AE, which should widen participation among lower earners and help boost overall contributions.