The UK’s longest-serving pensions minister, Guy Opperman, has been removed from his post by new prime minister Liz Truss, after five years in the role.
Opperman backed former chancellor Rishi Sunak against Truss in the Conservative leadership contest. On September 20, he posted a letter to colleagues on Twitter in which he confirmed his dismissal.
The former pensions minister confirmed that he was relieved of his duties on September 8 — the day Queen Elizabeth II passed away.
“The leadership contest is over, and the new team, and new PM, is entitled to choose their personnel to take matters forward,” he wrote.
Regrettably, there has been no progress in the past five years on the key area of boosting DC savings rates
Sir Steve Webb, LCP
“My successor, and the new government team, will have my full support.”
‘There remains much for my successor to do’
In his letter to colleagues, Opperman acknowledged five acts that have passed through parliament in the past two years. “No minister has done more bills these past two years,” he said.
The former minister highlighted the expansion of auto-enrolment during his tenure, with annual combined contribution rates rising to 8 per cent and more than 10.5mn savers now auto-enrolled into a workplace private pension.
He claimed the passing of the Pensions Schemes Act will help to make pensions greener with the introduction of Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures reporting, and safer with action against scams. The pensions dashboards initiative, due to go live in 2023, “will change pensions forever”, he said.
Opperman also pointed to the creation of the framework for collective defined contribution schemes, progress with midlife MOTs, and campaigning on financial inclusion.
He said he would “continue to champion 1 per cent default workplace savings” from the backbenches in an effort to help “create a nation of rainy-day savers”.
“There remains much for my successor to do, from expanding automatic enrolment, to professional trustees, proper measurement of value for money, expanding superfunds, illiquid investment and CDCs, and ensuring that we have a much better system for individual defined contribution retirement planning,” he continued.
‘A frustrating experience’
Opperman’s tenure began in June 2017. He resigned in July 2021 amid a mass departure of ministers in the last days of former prime minister Boris Johnson’s government, before returning to the role a few days later.
His time as minister coincided with seismic political events that have taken up significant parliamentary time, including the UK’s departure from the EU and the coronavirus pandemic.
Broadstone technical director David Brooks described Opperman’s time as pensions minister as a mostly “frustrating experience” compromised by a lack of parliamentary bandwidth.
“A case in point is the Pensions Act 2021, which began life as pensions bill 2019,” Brooks said.
“While it eventually progressed covering primarily pensions dashboards, CDC and the new funding and notifiable events regime for [defined benefit] schemes, the latter two are still not in force — the pensions dashboards’ activation is at least three years away and CDC is slowly but surely coming to fruition for one scheme.
“Guy had some big issues to get moving to change the UK pensions landscape, and his frustration came out towards the end with the glacial progress of a leviathan-like industry.”
Pensions Management Institute director of policy Tim Middleton said that pension dashboards would be Opperman’s chief legacy as pensions minister.
“While we have not always agreed with all of his ideas, we have never doubted his energy, determination and enthusiasm for the role and his clear desire to improve pension provision,” Middleton said.
Former pensions minister Sir Steve Webb, who previously held the record for the longest stint in the role before Opperman’s time in office, welcomed the stability that the MP for Hexham had provided “after years of a revolving door”.
Speaking to Pensions Expert, the LCP partner acknowledged Opperman’s progress on dashboards, CDC and environmental, social and governance issues.
Opperman: 12mn people are under-saving for retirement
Guy Opperman has told MPs that around 12mn people are under-saving for their retirement, accounting for 38 per cent of the nation’s working age population.
“Regrettably, there has been no progress in the past five years on the key area of boosting DC savings rates, with the 2017 review still gathering dust,” Webb said.
“There are also serious questions about whether the new DB funding regime is fit for purpose,” he added, referring to new DB scheme funding proposals that have attracted criticism from some quarters over their lack of flexibility.
“The new minister will have much work to do to get these key areas moving again,” he said.
