After a five-year tenure, Guy Opperman has stepped down as pensions minster.
On 20 September 2022, Opperman offered his resignation as he had to wait until the end of the mourning period for the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
In his letter, which Opperman shared on social media, he said: “It has been the honour of my life to serve as a government minister for the last seven years, I was relieved of my duties on the day Her Majesty the Queen passed away.
“As a result, I have respected the period of mourning until after Her Majesty’s funeral. The leadership contest is over, and the new team, and new prime minister, is entitled to choose their personnel to take matters forward.
“My successor, and the new government team, will have my full support.”
Facing his successor
Opperman also spoke about what awaits the incoming minister, who is yet to be named.
“There remains much for my successor to do from expanding automatic enrolment, to professional trustees, proper measurement of value for money, expanding superfunds, illiquid investments and collective defined contribution schemes (CDCs) and ensuring that we have a much better system for individual DC retirement planning.” he added. “I will be fully supportive of the new teams and remain forever grateful to have had the chance to serve.”
In June 2022, Opperman overtook Steve Webb as the longest serving pensions minister since the role was created.
In July 2022, Opperman resigned for a mere day following the collapse of Boris Johnson’s government to then take back the role while waiting for a new prime minister to be named.
Industry reactions
Industry players all praised the stability Opperman brought during his tenure, while also highlighting the challenges he faced, as well as all that remains to be done to bring the pensions sector forward.
Webb, partner at LCP and former pension minister, said: “After years of a revolving door for pensions ministers, it has been good to have a period of stability under Guy Opperman. And he has made progress in some key areas, laying the groundwork for CDC schemes to be introduced in the UK, moving us five years nearer to pensions dashboards and getting pension schemes to focus more on how their funds are invested from an ESG perspective.
“But regrettably there has been no progress in the last five years on the key area on boosting DC savings rates, with the 2017 review still gathering dust. There are also serious questions about whether the new defined benefit (DB) funding regime is fit for purpose. The new minister will have much work to do to get these key areas moving again.”
Kate Smith, head of pensions at Aegon, added: “Guy Opperman was the UK’s longest serving pensions minister, serving in the role for just over five years. He bought a period of stability which meant he was able to get his teeth into a number of initiatives, some more successful than others.
“Many of these are still in flow, such as the pensions dashboards, scheme consolidation and value for money, and initiatives to improve pension engagement. His biggest success was probably the Pension Schemes Act 2021 which introduced new duties for those running pension schemes as well as pushing forward pensions dashboards. The impact of this has the potential to transform pensions for the benefit of members.
“We hope there will be a smooth transition to the new pension minister, who will need to get up to speed quickly. Pensions can be a challenging topic, with many different angles. One of the benefits of Opperman’s long tenure is that he was able to build up a wealth of expertise and clearly demonstrated his passion for improving pensions.
“The new pensions minister will have a lot on their plate with many issues vying for attention. Pension policy has been a hive of activity in recent years, and there’s still much unfinished business, but a new minister will bring fresh thinking. Whoever gets the role, getting pensions dashboards over the line must be the top priority, nothing should be allowed to disrupt this.”
