Pensions - Articles - Barnett Waddingham on Ros Altmann as new pensions minister

 “I am not particularly surprised the decision has been taken to appoint Ros Altmann as the new pension minister (and not as previously announced as a proposed, separate new minister for consumer protection).

 “It never made much sense to have her as a consumer minister (involved in addressing specific pension issues) in the House of Lords as well as a separate pension minister operating from within the Commons. The risk of either overlapping roles or alternatively some artificial division of responsibilities was self-evident and a single ministerial position was obviously more desirable. Having promised Ros a position prior to the election (the timing of which announcement was not completely clear) the Prime Minister probably felt committed to give her the job.

 “Steve Webb was always going to be a difficult act to follow and it is good that we are going to have a new minister well versed in pensions and not someone, as happened several times prior to Mr Webb’s appointment, with little or no knowledge of the subject.

 “Having an unelected new peer as the pension minister is bound to attract criticism from some quarters and Ros will have to accept that her position within Government will not now allow her the luxury of claiming to be an independent consumer champion and criticising conservative policies from outside.

 “Having said that, I wish her well in her new role and I’m sure she will rise to the challenge and bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to it.”