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Joanne Segars OBE will be the new chair of the £31bn Pension Protection Fund from 1 July 2026, the Department for Work and Pensions has said. She will replace Kate Jones, who has held the five-year post since 2021.
Segars currently chairs the trustee board of master trust Now Pensions, as well as the independent governance committee at Legal & General, and sits on the CERN Pension Fund’s board. She is deputy chair of the Royal Photographic Society.
A former chief executive of the UK’s pension fund association, she previously also chaired the board of directors of LGPS Central and has held a string of other board positions. Segars started her career at the Trades Union Congress. In 2021, she supported Sir Brendan Barber to carry out a review of the Transport for London Pension Fund.
Pensions minister Torsten Bell said about the DWP appointment: “Joanne Segars brings a wealth of experience and expertise to this role at a pivotal moment for the PPF as we undertake the biggest pension reform in a generation. I look forward to working with her to ensure the PPF continues to deliver for the millions of people who depend on it, and to protect the retirement savings of workers across the UK.”
He thanked Jones for her “outstanding leadership in recent years”.
The PPF is run by an independent board and is accountable to parliament via the work and pensions secretary. It has been in focus in recent years, first over the previous government’s proposal to let it run a defined benefit consolidator – a proposal that was wildly unpopular with insurers and other superfunds – then about its abilitiy to charge a zero levy and more recently, over whether it should continue to run a large reserve, about £14bn, amid high DB funding levels.
The Pension Schemes Act 2026 now provides the legal basis for the PPF to change its levy more flexibly, and to give pre-1997 increases to some PPF members. The Society of Pension Professionals has called for government engagement to decide on further PPF reforms.
Segars will receive £73,840 a year for the role of chair, for a time commitment of two days per week.
