David Gauke,who was previously Chief Secretary to the Treasury, has been appointed the new Work and Pensions Secretary in Theresa May’s cabinet reshuffle.
He takes over the role from Damian Green, who will effectively function as deputy Prime Minister in his new job as First Secretary of State and Cabinet Office Minister.
Commenting on the appointment, Steve Webb, director of policy at Royal London and a former pensions minister, said: "There are few ministers who could have been appointed to this role who know as much about pensions as David Gauke.
"In his five years at the Treasury during the coalition he played a key role in developing the detail of the pension freedoms and was a keen supporter of automatic enrolment. I always found him to be knowledgeable and willing to engage in discussion and debate.
"However, as secretary of state at the DWP there will be many other issues to take up his time, including welfare reform, disability benefits and employment policy.
"The lack of an outright Conservative majority means radical reform in any area will be hard to get through parliament, but we may see sensible incremental changes as a result of the review of automatic enrolment.
"As a former chief secretary to the Treasury he will be used to focusing on keeping spending under control, but political pressures may mean savings on the triple lock and on winter fuel payments have to be kicked into the long grass."
Mr Gauke was born in 1971 and was educated at Northgate High School, a state comprehensive in Ipswich, and read law at St Edmund Hall, Oxford University.
After a year working as a Parliamentary researcher, he attended Chester College of Law before becoming a trainee solicitor.
He qualified as a solicitor in 1997 and worked for a leading City firm until his election as MP for South West Hertfordshire on 5 May 2005.
In 2010 , he was appointed as exchequer secretary to the Treasury, and at that time was the youngest Conservative minister in the government.
In July 2014 he was promoted to financial secretary to the Treasury.
In Parliament, he has led for the government on five Finance Bills and the National Insurance Contributions Bill.
As minister, he has had a role in reducing tax avoidance and tax evasion, as well as making the UK tax system more competitive.
In July 2016 he was promoted to chief secretary to the Treasury.
Mr Gauke lives in Chorleywood with his wife, Rachel, and their three young sons, William (born September 2002), Robert (born October 2004) and Henry (born December 2008).
Huw Evans, director General of the Association of British Insurers, said: “We’ve worked closely with David Gauke during his seven years at Treasury and he is an excellent appointment to DWP, where his knowledge of the pension reforms and understanding of economics on both a national and individual scale will be invaluable.
"We are dedicated to taking forwards the project to develop pensions dashboards where close working with both HMT and DWP will be essential, and we look forward to engaging with David Gauke and his ministerial team on the future success of this vital innovation, together with work on the next stage of auto-enrolment, the role of protection insurance in helping welfare reform and stability of the pensions system.”
Richard Harrington MP, the pensions minister, remains in place, a post he has held since July 2016.
