Pensions: National Employment Savings Trust Corporation

Steve Webb Excerpts

Tuesday 18th November 2014 Written Statements

[The Minister for Pensions (Steve Webb)]

I am pleased to announce that Mr Otto Thoresen has been appointed as the next Chair of NEST Corporation, the body that runs the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST). Mr Thoresen will take up the appointment from 1 February 2015.

NEST was established as a low-cost, occupational pension scheme to support automatic enrolment. It is focused on a target market of low to moderate earners and smaller employers who the market served inefficiently. Through delivery of its public service obligation, NEST ensures that all employers have a suitable pension arrangement through which to fulfil their automatic enrolment duties.

NEST already has around 1.6 million members and is working with over 9,000 employers. From June 2015, 1.2 million small employers—those with fewer than 50 workers—will start to engage with automatic enrolment. NEST will be critical in ensuring that these small employers are able to access low-cost pension provision for their workers.

Mr Thoresen brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience of pensions to this challenging role and has a distinguished career of operating at the highest level in large and complex organisations. He is currently director general of the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and has held senior posts at Aegon, Abbey Life, Royal Life Holdings and Scottish Equitable. He is a trustee of Young Enterprise; an adviser to the Citizens Advice Board Edinburgh; a governor of the Pensions Policy Institute; and a trustee of Step Change, a debt charity. His appointment as Chair demonstrates our commitment to recruiting people with a proven track record and the expertise to get the job done.