The National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) Corporation, which is tasked with delivering the Government's NEST pension scheme to the UK, has named Lawrence Churchill as its chair.

From 1 February 2010, Churchill will start as chair designate, and from 5 July 2010, when the NEST Corporation is established, will take on the full responsibilities as chair. One of his first tasks will be to participate in the recruitment of other trustee members of the Corporation.

"Lawrence Churchill brings a wealth of experience of pensions to this challenging role, and has a long career of operating at the highest level in large and complex organisation," commented Minister of State for Pensions & the Ageing Society, Angela Eagle. "His appointment as chair demonstrates out commitment to recruiting people with a proven track record and the expertise to get the job done."

Churchill is currently chair of the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), from which he will step down on 30 June 2010.

"I am delighted to be appointed as the chair of the NEST Corporation. Setting up a trust-based, occupational pension scheme, with millions of members, is going to be a major undertaking, and I look forward to being able to play a major part in this radical change to workplace entitlements," Churchill said.

The appointment has been welcomed by the industry.

National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) chief executive Joanne Segars said: "Lawrence Churchill is an excellent choice as the new Chairman of NEST.

"His lifelong experience of the pensions sector will serve him well in this challenging role.

"The NAPF supports the 2012 reforms and believes NEST has an essential role to play in providing a pension for those employees without access to a good workplace pension. We look forward to working with Lawrence."

Paul Macro, principal at Towers Watson, warned that Churchill's task will not be an easy one: "Lawrence Churchill's career move is like going from pensions past to pensions future. The final salary schemes which the PPF covers are largely closed to new entrants and increasingly to existing members too, while NEST will cater for millions of new savers who have never been in a pension scheme before.

"This is not an easy job, even if all the systems are delivered on time and on budget. In a DC environment, employees must shoulder investment risks but few DC savers feel confident about making investment choices. The default fund that NEST designs for people who shy away from these decisions will influence millions of people's retirement outcomes but can never be right for everyone. As more people have more money in DC pensions, we need to raise the bar when it comes to financial education to ensure that employees realise these limitations."

However, Macro said his time at the PPF may have prepared him for difficulties. "At the PPF, Lawrence Churchill's job was made harder by ministers saying it guaranteed benefits when this has never been true. Now, he could find that NEST's financial calculations have been thrown off course by politicians repeatedly changing their minds over how quickly the reforms will be brought in. He will also be anxious that Government communications to first-time pension savers are clear and understandable but whilst the Government retains a significant amount of means-testing in the State Pension system, people cannot be told that it will always pay to save."

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