WPC chair Stephen Timms. Credit: UK Parliament
Work and Pensions Committee (WPC) chair Stephen Timms has received a knighthood in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours for his political and public service.
Timms - who became chair of the WPC in 2020 - has been a Labour MP for East Ham in London since 1994.
He has four decades of public service across both local and national level and was chief secretary to HM Treasury in 2006 and 2007.
Timms stood down from the Labour frontbench in 2015 and now serves as the UK's trade envoy to both Liechtenstein and Switzerland along with his work on the WPC.
"I am very pleased with the knighthood," he said. "It's been a huge privilege to serve East Ham as the MP for 28 years, with ten years as a local councillor before that.".
Writing on Twitter, mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: "It is wonderful to see Stephen's years of commitment and dedication not just to East Ham, but to communities across our city and country, recognised."
Of his work in parliament, Timms said he was "just getting into [his] stride".
"The WPC has got absolutely vital work to do as we go through the current cost of living crisis," he added. "So, there's a great deal more to be done in the years ahead."
Timms' time as WPC chair so far has seen him front its extensive three-part inquiry into the success of pension freedoms between 2015 and 2020.
The WPC also laid down a package of 25 recommendations for the government in January covering issues including the working of the pension commencement lump sum, the effectiveness of the joint work between The Pensions Regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority, changes to pensions guidance, and pensions advice allowance as part of the inquiry.
Timms has also shown a particular interest in the perennial issue of pension scams, calling for increased action on numerous occasions to protect the pension savers from fraud.
