Blackpool North MP Paul Maynard has been promoted to the post of the new Pensions Minister, replacing Laura Trott who spent a year in the job before being promoted to Chief Secretary to the Treasury earlier this week. MP Maynard was first elected to Parliament in 2010 and won a majority of around 8,600 in the 2019 election.
Kate Smith, Head of Pensions at Aegon, said: ‘He will have a very busy agenda to try to progress, potentially in a very short time, as a general election could be less than a year away. The new pensions minister will need to hit the ground running, given his lack of financial services experience, this may be challenging.
Top of the agenda will be the need to work closely with the Chancellor on a number of policy initiatives designed to improve member outcomes, implement the auto-enrolment reforms, drive scheme consolidation and encourage pension schemes to invest in private equity to encourage economic growth. The previous pensions minister, Laura Trott, with her new role at the Treasury may prove to be invaluable here. Time will tell whether Maynard will have the time to get up to speed with all things pension and deliver any of the initiatives in flow given that the general election will be a major distraction.’
