The Money Advice Service, the government-established service which offers free basic money advice, has appointed Caroline Rookes as its new £140,000 a year chief executive to succeed Tony Hobman.
Ms Rookes salary will be lease than half the £314,000 annual package her predecessor Tony Hobman earned. The MAS has come in for repeated criticism for its high salaries and alleged failure to provide value for money or be effective in encouraging better consumer personal finance education.

The appointment was made by the Financial Services Authority and was approved by the Treasury and Ms Brookes will take up the role in the New Year.

Ms Rookes is currently director of private pensions at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) where she has overseen the introduction of the new duty on employers to enrol their staff automatically into a pension and the new NEST pension scheme. She has also been responsible for the policy, legislation and regulation of the private pension regime and for its protection framework.

She started work for the Department of Health and Social Security, DWP's predecessor, in 1976 after graduating from the University of Lancaster. Her first job was in a local benefit office.

She has held a range of posts in social security including operations, policy and finance and has led a number of major benefit reviews. Caroline moved to the Inland Revenue (now HMRC) in 1999 and held posts as Director of Charities and Director of Savings, Pensions and Share Schemes. She led a major simplification of the pension tax regime. Caroline moved to her current DWP post in 2005 and was awarded the CBE in 2010.

Gerard Lemos, Money Advice Service chairman, said: "I am delighted that we have found someone of such calibre and experience as Caroline. She really understands people's money needs. The board was highly impressed with her leadership skills, strategic thought, operational good sense and stakeholder management expertise. On its behalf I thoroughly look forward to working with her in the next phase of making the Service even more relevant to people's needs."

{desktop}{/desktop}{mobile}{/mobile}

Ms Rookes said: "The Money Advice Service has a vital role to play in making the nation more financially capable. It has begun the groundwork for this and I look forward to helping it make an even stronger impact on people's lives and making good financial behaviour a desirable quality for all."

Ms Rookes' predecessor Mr Hobman will leave on 31 December.