Caroline Rookes

It is with great sadness that The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) has to announce that its Chair, Caroline Rookes, died on Monday 16 October.

Caroline Rookes was appointed as Chair of The Pensions Ombudsman in November 2020, following her appointment as interim Chair in September 2019.

Caroline was the Chief Executive Officer of the Money Advice Service between 2013 and 2017. Prior to this, Caroline was the Director of Private Pensions at the Department for Work and Pensions where she led the programme to introduce automatic enrolment and the NEST pension scheme. During the 2017/18 pension restructuring exercise, Caroline led an independent review of communications and support provided to British Steel Pension Scheme members. From 2002 to 2005, Caroline was the Director of Savings Pensions and Share Schemes at HMRC.

Caroline was a Trustee of the Civil Service Sports Council Superannuation scheme from 2015. From 2015-2019 she was a Trustee of the NEST pension scheme and in January 2019 she was appointed as a Trustee of the Pension Superfund (a position she stood down from in November 2020). In 2010 Caroline was awarded the CBE.