Former Treasury director Kirstin Baker has been appointed as the new interim chair of The Pensions Regulator (TPR) to replace Sarah Smart.

The appointment has been made by the Department for Work and Pensions and is effective from 1 August.

Ms Baker is currently the senior independent member of the TPR Board. She was appointed a panel inquiry chair and panel member non-executive director of the Competition and Markets Authority board on 1 September 2018 and is also a member of the audit and risk committee. She stepped down from the board in March 2024 but remains a panel inquiry chair.

She had a long career in the civil service and was most recently HM Treasury’s finance and commercial director. Earlier in her career she was part of the senior team leading the Treasury’s response to the banking crisis and was awarded a CBE for her work.

Kirstin Baker said: “I am delighted to take on this interim chair role while a competition is undertaken for the next full-term chair of The Pensions Regulator. I would like to thank Sarah Smart for all the work she has done as TPR chair and look forward to building on this.”

Her appointment starts from 1 August for a period of up to nine months. In her capacity as interim chair, Ms Baker is entitled to an annual remuneration of £73,840, based on a minimum time commitment of 104 days per annum.

Torsten Bell, Minister for Pensions, said: “I look forward to working with Kirstin Baker as she brings to bear the wealth of experience from her role as TPR senior independent board member."

Ms Smart was appointed chair of The Pensions Regulator in June 2021. She was chair of TPT Retirement Solutions from 2010 to 2018, has worked with both London Pensions Fund Authority and Lothian Pension Fund, was an independent member of the investment and funding committee for Unilever UK Pension Fund and chaired the Financial Times Pensions Governance Committee.

She previously worked in the investment management industry, spending nine years with Standard Life Investment.

She announced her departure from TPR in February. She said: “I now feel it is the right time for me to step away from TPR to concentrate on my personal situation.”

The Pensions Regulator is the UK’s statutory body responsible for ensuring the integrity of workplace pensions by making schemes and employers comply with their duties, providing strategic oversight of the pensions market and support innovation to enhance outcomes for savers.