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The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is the largest government department in the United Kingdom, created on June 8, 2001 from the merger of the employment part of the Department for Education and Employment and the Department of Social Security and headed by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, a Cabinet position.

[edit] Role

The Department sees its role as to:

• contribute towards fair, safe and fulfilling lives, free from poverty for children, people in work and retirement, disabled people and carers;
• reduce welfare dependency and increase economic competitiveness by helping people to work wherever they can and helping employers to secure the skills and employees they need; and
• provide greater choice and personalisation and higher quality of service for customers where it is in their interests and those of the taxpayers. ^[1]

[edit] Ministerial team

See ^[2]

• Secretary of State for Work and Pensions - Yvette Cooper MP
  • Minister of State for Pensions and the Ageing Society - Angela Eagle MP
  • Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform - Jim Knight MP (attends cabinet when responsibility is on agenda)
    • Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State - Lord McKenzie of Luton (jointly with DCLG)
    • Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State - Helen Goodman MP
    • Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Disabled People - Jonathan Shaw MP

The Permanent Secretary is Sir Leigh Lewis KCB. In November 2005, he replaced Sir Richard Mottram, who moved to the Cabinet Office. Mottram had moved in 2002 from the same post at the Department for Transport to succeed Rachel Lomax, who had followed the opposite route and who then moved to the Bank of England as deputy governor in 2003.

[edit] Services

The Department for Work and Pensions has two operational organisations:

• Jobcentre Plus administers Jobseeker's Allowance, Incapacity Benefit, Income Support, Employment and Support Allowance, Bereavement Benefits, Maternity Allowance, Industrial Injuries Benefits and the Social Fund.
• The Pension, Disability and Carers Service containing two sub-organisations, The Pension Service and Disability and Carers Service. The former pays the Basic State Pension and Pension Credit and provides information on related issues; the latter provides financial support to disabled people and their carers^[3].

The department has responsibility for the Health and Safety Executive, Directgov and the Employment Medical Advisory Service and the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority.

The majority of the remainder of the staff employed in the department work for DWP Corporate and Shared Services. These cover areas such as Debt Management, Human Resources (Employee Shared Services), Contracting and Corporate IT.

[edit] Location and staffing

DWP buildings at Quarry Hill, Leeds (known locally as 'The Pink Palace' and 'The Kremlin')

The department's central administrative office is in Whitehall, London.

[edit] Locations

DWP has buildings in Leeds, Blackpool and Sheffield.

[edit] See also

• Pensions Commission
• Office of Manpower Economics
• United Kingdom budget
• Benefit fraud
• Welfare Rights

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Department for Work and Pensions website
• Directgov disabled people - Part of Department for Work and Pensions

[edit] Video clips

• DWP YouTube channel

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