Department for Work and Pensions
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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.
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]
Ministerial team
- Secretary of State for Work and Pensions - Iain Duncan Smith MP (Conservative)
- Minister of State - Chris Grayling MP (Conservative)
- Minister of State for Pensions - Steve Webb MP (Liberal Democrat)
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Welfare Reform - Baron Freud
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State - Maria Miller 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.
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[4].
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.
Location and staffing
The department's central administrative office is in Whitehall, London.
Locations
DWP has buildings in Leeds, Blackpool, Newcastle and Sheffield.
See also
References
- ^ [1] DWP Vision, aims and values
- ^ DWP Ministers
- ^ http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/topstorynews/2010/05/her-majestys-government-49840
- ^ http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/dcs-business-plan0910.pdf Pension, Disability and Carers Service Business Plan 2009-10
External links
- Department for Work and Pensions website
- Directgov disabled people - Part of Department for Work and Pensions