Laura Trott is new Pensions Minister

Laura Trott MP has become the new Pensions Minister, the Department for Work and Pensions announced today.

After a wait while new ministerial responsibilities were allocated, the DWP confirmed today that Ms Trott has become the new Pensions Minister.

She takes over from long-serving predecessor Guy Opperman MP who remains at the DWP but takes over as Employment Minister.

Ms Trott is officially appointed as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the DWP.

She will be responsible for pensioner benefits including the State Pension, private and occupational pensions and oversight of bodies such as the Pensions Regulator.

Other areas of responsibility include Pension Credit and regulatory powers in relation to the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST). She also has a number of other areas as part of her remit including the Pension Protection Fund and Pensions Ombudsman.

Ms Trott is the MP for Sevenoaks & Swanley and was first elected in December 2019. 

She grew up just outside the constituency in Oxted. She went to Oxted School, a Comprehensive school, and won a place to study at Oxford University, becoming the first in her family to go to university. From 2011 until 2015 she served as an adviser in Downing Street advising the then Prime Minister. She served latterly as head of strategic communications and also as part of the policy team which wrote the 2015 manifesto.

After leaving Government she became a partner at a communications firm.  

She is a mother to three children, twin boys and one girl, and a supporter of the Sutton Trust which helps young people who are the first in their family to go to university. She is a campaigner for social mobility. She has a degree in economics and trained as a management consultant. 

The full list of ministerial appointments at the DWP following the election of Rishi Sunak MP as Prime Minister includes:

Mel Stride MP: Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Guy Opperman MP: Minister of State (Minister for Employment)

Tom Pursglove MP: Minister of State (Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work)

Mims Davies MP: Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Social Mobility, Youth and Progression)

Laura Trott MP: Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Pensions)

Baroness Deborah Stedman-Scott: Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Lords)