Ros Altmann

rdf:langString Ros Altmann

rdf:langString The Baroness Altmann

rdf:langString The Baroness Altmann

rdf:langString Life peerage

rdf:langString Official portrait, 2018

rdf:langString British

rdf:langString Rosalind Miriam Altmann, Baroness Altmann, CBE (born 8 April 1956) is a British life peer, leading UK pensions expert, and political campaigner. She was appointed to the House of Lords following the 2015 general election as a Conservative, but describes her work both before and after the election as being politically independent, championing ordinary people and social justice. She became well known in 2002 for leading the "pensionstheft" campaign on behalf of 150,000 workers and their families whose company pensions disappeared when their employers' final salary scheme failed. Having been assured their pensions were safe and protected by law, these workers from companies such as Allied Steel and Wire, Kalamazoo Computer Group, Dexion, British United Shoe Machinery and UEF suddenly faced losing their whole life savings and her work contributed to establishing the Pension Protection Fund and the Financial Assistance Scheme. She has also supported the campaign for people whose pensions were placed in peril by Equitable Life. In 2011, she campaigned against the sudden, short notice increases in women's state pension age, achieving success in reducing the planned rises, and was instrumental in highlighting the injustices of the annuities market, which culminated in the Government's announcement of the end to quasi-mandatory annuitisation of pensions. Although best known for her work on pensions, she is also involved in economic analysis and most recently in highlighting the inadequacies of the social care system. She has twice been the recipient of the Pensions Personality of the Year Award. She is a governor of the London School of Economics. and also an advisor to the International Longevity Centre – UK. She was Director General of the Saga Group from 2010 to 2013. In 2011 her work as the "leading commentator on pensions and other matters affecting the lives of the nation's over 50s" was recognised when she was presented with the Public Affairs Achiever of the Year award.