Robert Devereux (civil servant)

Sir Robert John Devereux, KCB (/ˈdɛvəˌruː/; born 15 January 1957) is a retired senior British civil servant, who served as Permanent Secretary for the Department for Transport from 2007 to 2011,[1] and oversaw a new policy increasing the UK retirement age to 67 at the Department for Work and Pensions from 2011 until his retirement at 61 in January 2018.[2][3]

Sir Robert Devereux
KCB
Permanent Secretary for the Department for Work and Pensions
In office
2011–2018
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Theresa May
MinisterIain Duncan Smith
Stephen Crabb
Damian Green
David Gauke
Esther McVey
Preceded bySir Leigh Lewis
Succeeded byPeter Schofield
Permanent Secretary for the Department for Transport
In office
2007–2011
Prime MinisterGordon Brown
David Cameron
MinisterDouglas Alexander
Ruth Kelly
Geoff Hoon
The Lord Adonis
Philip Hammond
Preceded bySir David Rowlands
Succeeded byDame Lin Homer
Personal details
Born
Robert John Devereux

(1957-01-15) 15 January 1957

Education
Devereux arms

Devereux was educated at St John's College, Oxford between 1975 and 1978, before studying for a master's degree at the University of Edinburgh.

Career

Devereux joined the Civil Service in 1979; until 1983 he worked in the Overseas Development Administration, before working at HM Treasury until 1994. He was with the Department of Social Security between 1996 and 2001. From 2007 to 2011, Devereux was Permanent Secretary at the Department for Transport. He became Permanent Secretary at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) on 1 January 2011. As of 2015, Devereux was paid a salary of between £180,000 and £184,999 by the department.[4]

In 2013, it was reported that the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood, informed the Prime Minister David Cameron that he was concerned about the "concerted political briefing campaign" against Devereux over failures in the DWP's Universal Credit programme.[5]

Sir Robert was the key architect of the state retirement age increase to 68 years[6]

On 11 October 2017, it was announced that Sir Robert would retire from his post on his 61st birthday. He was succeeded by Peter Schofield, at that point the department's Director-General for Finance, in January 2018.

Honours
KCB insignia

Devereux was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to transport and welfare and for voluntary service in Kilburn, London.[7][8]

See also

References
  1. Department for Work and Pensions (27 September 2010). "New Permanent Secretary for the Department for Work and Pensions". Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  2. A & C Black (2011). "DEVEREUX, Robert John". Who's Who 2011. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  3. HM Government (12 January 2018). "Appointment of Peter Schofield as Permanent Secretary at the Department for Work and Pensions". gov.uk. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  4. "Senior officials 'high earners' salaries as at 30 September 2015 - GOV.UK". gov.uk. 17 December 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  5. Wright, Oliver (24 November 2013). "Exclusive: Top mandarin hits back at Iain Duncan Smith over universal". The Independent. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  6. "architect of UK retirement age move to 68 retires at 61". Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  7. "No. 61450". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 2015. p. N3.
  8. "New Year's Honours 2016 list" (PDF). GOV.UK. 30 December 2015. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
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