Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, also referred to as the Work and Pensions Secretary, is a senior Minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The office forms part of the British Cabinet.

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Royal Arms of Her Majesty's Government
Incumbent Thérèse Coffey since 8 September 2019
Department for Work and Pensions
Style	Work and Pensions Secretary (informal) The Right Honourable (UK and the Commonwealth)
Status	Minister of the Crown
Member of	Cabinet Privy Council
Reports to	The Prime Minister
Seat	Westminster
Appointer	The Crown on advice of the Prime Minister
Term length	At Her Majesty's Pleasure
Formation	10 December 1916
First holder	George Barnes
Deputy	Minister of State for Employment
Website	www.dwp.gov.uk

The current Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is Thérèse Coffey, MP since her appointment by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in September 2019.

Responsibilities

Corresponding to what is generally known as a labour minister in many other countries, the Work and Pensions Secretary's remit includes:

• Support people of working age
• Oversight of employers and pensions
• Providing support for disability
• Support for families and children[1]

History

It was created on 8 June 2001 by the merger of the Employment division of the Department for Education and Employment and the Department of Social Security.[2]

The Ministry of Pensions was created in 1916 to handle the payment of war pensions to former members of the Armed Forces and their dependants. In 1944 a separate Ministry of National Insurance (titled the Ministry of Social Insurance until 17 November 1944) was formed; the two merged in 1953 as the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance.[2] In 1966 the Ministry was renamed the Ministry of Social Security, but this was short-lived, as the Ministry merged with the Ministry of Health in 1968 to form the Department of Health and Social Security. Confusingly, the Secretary of State responsible for this Department was titled the Secretary of State for Social Services. The Department was de-merged in 1988, creating the separate Department of Health and Department of Social Security.

Ministers and Secretaries of State

Colour key (for political parties):
  Labour   Conservative   Liberal   National Labour   National Independent

Minister of Pensions (1916–53)
Name		Term of office		Length of term	Political party	Prime Minister
	George Nicoll Barnes	10 December 1916	17 August 1917	8 months and 7 days	Labour		David Lloyd George (Coalition)
	John Hodge	17 August 1917	10 January 1919	1 year, 4 months and 24 days	Labour
	Sir Laming Worthington-Evans, Bt	10 January 1919	2 April 1920	1 year, 2 months and 23 days	Conservative
	Ian Macpherson	2 April 1920	19 October 1922	2 years, 6 months and 17 days	Liberal
	George Tryon	31 October 1922	22 January 1924	1 year, 2 months and 22 days	Conservative		Bonar Law
							Stanley Baldwin
	Frederick Roberts	23 January 1924	3 November 1924	9 months and 11 days	Labour		Ramsay MacDonald
	George Tryon	11 November 1924	4 June 1929	4 years, 6 months and 24 days	Conservative		Stanley Baldwin
	Frederick Roberts	7 June 1929	24 August 1931	2 years, 2 months and 17 days	Labour		Ramsay MacDonald
	George Tryon	3 September 1931	18 June 1935	3 years, 9 months and 15 days	Conservative		Ramsay MacDonald (1st & 2nd National Min.)
	Robert Hudson	18 June 1935	30 July 1936	1 year, 1 month and 12 days	Conservative		Stanley Baldwin (3rd National Min.)
	Herwald Ramsbotham	30 July 1936	7 June 1939	2 years, 10 months and 8 days	Conservative
							Neville Chamberlain (4th Nat.Min.; War Coalition)
	Sir Walter Womersley	7 June 1939	26 July 1945	6 years, 1 month and 19 days	Conservative
							Winston Churchill (War Coalition; Caretaker Min.)
	Wilfred Paling	3 August 1945	17 April 1947	1 year, 8 months and 14 days	Labour		Clement Attlee
	John Burns Hynd	17 April 1947	7 October 1947	5 months and 20 days	Labour
	George Buchanan	7 October 1947	2 July 1948	8 months and 25 days	Labour
	Hilary Marquand	2 July 1948	17 January 1951	2 years, 6 months and 15 days	Labour
	George Isaacs	17 January 1951	26 October 1951	9 months and 9 days	Labour
	Derick Heathcoat-Amory	5 November 1951	3 September 1953	1 year, 9 months and 29 days	Conservative		Sir Winston Churchill

Minister of Social Insurance/National Insurance (1944–53)
Name		Term of office		Length of term	Political party	Prime Minister
	Sir William Jowitt	8 October 1944	23 May 1945	7 months and 15 days	Labour		Winston Churchill (War Coalition)
	Leslie Hore-Belisha	25 May 1945	26 July 1945	2 months and 1 day	National Independent		Winston Churchill (Caretaker Min.)
	Jim Griffiths	4 August 1945	28 February 1950	4 years, 6 months and 24 days	Labour		Clement Attlee
	Edith Summerskill	28 February 1950	26 October 1951	1 year, 7 months and 28 days	Labour
	Osbert Peake	31 October 1951	3 September 1953	1 year, 10 months and 3 days (Cont. below)	Conservative		Sir Winston Churchill

Posts of Minister of Pensions and Minister of National Insurance merged in 1953.

Minister of Pensions and National Insurance (1953–66)
Name			Term of office		Length of term	Political party	Prime Minister
	Osbert Peake		3 September 1953	20 December 1955	2 years, 3 months and 17 days (Cont. from above)	Conservative		Sir Winston Churchill
								Sir Anthony Eden
	John Boyd-Carpenter		20 December 1955	16 July 1962	6 years, 6 months and 26 days	Conservative
								Harold Macmillan
	Niall Macpherson		16 July 1962	21 October 1963	1 year, 3 months and 5 days	Conservative
	Richard Wood		21 October 1963	16 October 1964	11 months and 25 days	Conservative		Sir Alec Douglas-Home
	Margaret Herbison		18 October 1964	6 August 1966	1 year, 9 months and 19 days (Cont. below)	Labour		Harold Wilson
Minister of Social Security (1966–68)
Name			Term of office		Length of term	Political party	Prime Minister
	Margaret Herbison		6 August 1966	26 July 1967	11 months and 20 days (Cont. from above)	Labour		Harold Wilson
	Judith Hart		26 July 1967	1 November 1968	1 year, 3 months and 6 days	Labour
Secretary of State for Health and Social Services (1968–88)
Name			Term of office		Length of term	Political party	Prime Minister
	Richard Crossman		1 November 1968	19 June 1970	1 year, 7 months and 18 days	Labour		Harold Wilson
	Sir Keith Joseph		20 June 1970	4 March 1974	3 years, 8 months and 12 days	Conservative		Edward Heath
	Barbara Castle		5 March 1974	8 April 1976	2 years, 1 month and 3 days	Labour		Harold Wilson
	David Ennals		8 April 1976	4 May 1979	3 years and 26 days	Labour		James Callaghan
	Patrick Jenkin		5 May 1979	14 September 1981	2 years, 4 months and 9 days	Conservative		Margaret Thatcher
	Norman Fowler		14 September 1981	13 June 1987	5 years, 8 months and 30 days	Conservative
	John Moore		13 June 1987	25 July 1988	1 year, 1 month and 12 days (Cont. below)	Conservative
Post split into the Secretary of State for Social Security and the Secretary of State for Health in 1988.
Secretary of State for Social Security (1988–2001)
Name		Portrait	Term of office		Length of term	Political party	Prime Minister
	John Moore		25 July 1988	23 July 1989	11 months and 28 days (Cont. from above)	Conservative		Margaret Thatcher
	Tony Newton		23 July 1989	10 April 1992	2 years, 8 months and 18 days	Conservative
								John Major
	Peter Lilley		10 April 1992	2 May 1997	5 years and 22 days	Conservative
	Harriet Harman		2 May 1997	27 July 1998	1 year, 2 months and 25 days	Labour		Tony Blair
	Alistair Darling		27 July 1998	8 June 2001	2 years, 10 months and 12 days (Cont. below)	Labour
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (2001–present)
Name		Portrait	Term of office		Length of term	Political party	Prime Minister
	Alistair Darling		8 June 2001	29 May 2002	11 months and 21 days (Cont. from above)	Labour		Tony Blair
	Andrew Smith		29 May 2002	8 September 2004	2 years, 3 months and 10 days	Labour
	Alan Johnson		8 September 2004	6 May 2005	7 months and 28 days	Labour
	David Blunkett		6 May 2005	2 November 2005	1 year, 1 month and 25 days	Labour
	John Hutton		2 November 2005	28 June 2007	1 year, 7 months and 26 days	Labour
	Peter Hain		28 June 2007	24 January 2008	6 months and 27 days	Labour		Gordon Brown
	James Purnell MP for Stalybridge and Hyde		24 January 2008	4 June 2009	1 year, 4 months and 11 days	Labour
	Yvette Cooper MP for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford		5 June 2009	11 May 2010	11 months and 6 days	Labour
	Iain Duncan Smith MP for Chingford and Woodford Green		12 May 2010	18 March 2016	5 years, 10 months and 6 days	Conservative		David Cameron (Coalition)
			Duncan Smith's tenure					David Cameron (II)
	Stephen Crabb MP for Preseli Pembrokeshire		19 March 2016	14 July 2016	3 months and 25 days	Conservative
	Damian Green MP for Ashford		14 July 2016	11 June 2017	10 months and 28 days	Conservative		Theresa May (I)
	David Gauke MP for South West Hertfordshire		11 June 2017	8 January 2018	6 months and 28 days	Conservative		Theresa May (II)
	Esther McVey MP for Tatton		8 January 2018	15 November 2018	10 months and 7 days	Conservative
	Amber Rudd MP for Hastings and Rye		16 November 2018	7 September 2019	9 months and 22 days	Conservative
								Boris Johnson (I)
	Thérèse Coffey MP for Coastal Suffolk		8 September 2019	Incumbent	1 year, 4 months and 24 days*	Conservative
								Boris Johnson (II)

* Incumbent's length of term last updated: 1 February 2021.

See also

• Secretary of State for Employment

References

1. https://www.gov.uk/government/ministers/secretary-of-state-for-work-and-pensions
2. Department for Work and Pensions. "A century of support: Department for Work and Pensions turns 100 years old". Department for Work and Pensions. Retrieved 29 May 2019.