The secretary of state for work and pensions, also referred to as the work and pensions secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the business of the Department for Work and Pensions. The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for welfare, pensions and child maintenance policy. As the UK's biggest public service department it administers the State Pension and a range of working age, disability and ill health benefits to around 20 million claimants and customers. It is the second largest governmental department in terms of employees, and the second largest in terms of expenditure.
Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) is an unemployment benefit paid by the Government of the United Kingdom to people who are unemployed and actively seeking work. It is part of the social security benefits system and is intended to cover living expenses while the claimant is out of work.
The parliamentary under-secretary of state is the lowest of three tiers of government minister in the UK government, immediately junior to a Minister of State, which is itself junior to a Secretary of State.
Mark James Harper is a British politician who served in the Cabinet as Chief Whip of the House of Commons from 2015 to 2016 and as Secretary of State for Transport from 2022 to 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire from 2005 until his defeat in 2024.
Stephen Crabb is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Preseli Pembrokeshire from 2005 to 2024 and Chairman of the Welsh Affairs Select Committee from 2020. A member of the Welsh Conservatives, he served as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from March to July 2016 under Prime Minister David Cameron. Crabb had previously been appointed a government whip, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales (2012–2014) and Secretary of State for Wales (2014–2016) under Cameron. He lost his seat in the 2024 general election.
Clement Attlee was invited by King George VI to form the Attlee ministry in the United Kingdom in July 1945, succeeding Winston Churchill as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The Labour Party had won a landslide victory at the 1945 general election, and went on to enact policies of what became known as the post-war consensus, including the establishment of the welfare state and the nationalisation of 20 percent of the entire economy. The government's spell in office was marked by post-war austerity measures; the crushing of pro-independence and communist movements in Malaya; the grant of independence to India, Pakistan, Ceylon, and Burma; the engagement in the Cold War against Soviet Communism; and the creation of the country's National Health Service (NHS).
Esther Louise McVey, Lady Davies, is a British Conservative Party politician and television presenter who has been serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tatton since 2017, and served as the MP for Wirral West from 2010 to 2015. She previously served in cabinet as Minister of State for Employment from 2013 to 2015, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in 2018, Minister of State for Housing and Planning from 2019 to 2020 and Minister of State without Portfolio from 2023 to 2024.
Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) is a United Kingdom welfare payment for adults younger than the State Pension age who are having difficulty finding work because of their long-term medical condition or a disability. It is a basic income-replacement benefit paid in lieu of wages. It is currently being phased out and replaced with Universal Credit for claimants on low incomes, although the contribution-based element remains available.
Guy Thomas Opperman is a British former politician who served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Roads and Local Transport from November 2023 to July 2024. He previously served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Pensions and Financial Inclusion at the Department for Work and Pensions between 2017 and 2022 and Minister of State for Employment from 2022 to 2023. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hexham from 2010 to 2024.
Justin Paul Tomlinson is a British politician and former marketing executive who served as Minister of State for Energy Security and Net Zero in 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Swindon from 2010 to 2024.
Universal Credit is a United Kingdom based social security payment. It is means-tested and is replacing and combining six benefits, for working-age households with a low income: income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), income-based Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA), and Income Support; Child Tax Credit (CTC) and Working Tax Credit (WTC); and Housing Benefit. An award of UC is made up of different elements, which become payable to the claimant if relevant criteria apply: a standard allowance for singles or couples, child elements and disabled child elements for children in the household, housing cost element, childcare costs element, as well as elements for being a carer or having an illness or disability and therefore having limited capability to work.
The Work Programme (WP) was a UK government welfare-to-work programme introduced in Great Britain in June 2011. It was the flagship welfare-to-work scheme of the 2010–2015 UK coalition government. Under the Work Programme the task of getting the long-term unemployed into work was outsourced to a range of public sector, private sector and third sector organisations. The scheme replaced a range of schemes which existed under previous New Labour governments including Employment Zones, New Deal, Flexible New Deal and the now abolished Future Jobs Fund scheme which aimed to tackle youth unemployment. Despite being the flagship welfare-to-work scheme of the Conservative-led coalition government, and then the incumbent Conservative government from May 2015, the DWP announced, in November 2015, that it was replacing the Work Programme and Work Choice with a new Work and Health Programme for the longer-term unemployed and those with health conditions. The DWP also announced that it would not be renewing Mandatory Work Activity and Help to Work which included Community Work Placements.
Miriam Jane Alice Davies, known as Mims Davies, is a British Conservative Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Grinstead and Uckfield, previously Mid Sussex, since 2019. She previously served as MP for Eastleigh from 2015 to 2019. Davies has served as Shadow Secretary of State for Wales since November 2024, and served as Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities from July to November 2024. She previously served in various ministerial positions between 2018 and 2024.
Kamalpreet Khera PC MP is an Indian born Canadian politician who has been minister of diversity, inclusion and persons with disabilities since July 26, 2023. A member of the Liberal Party, Khera has represented the riding of Brampton West in the House of Commons since the 2015 federal election. She also served as the minister of seniors from October 26, 2021 to July 2023.
The Minister of State for Social Security and Disability is a junior minister in the Department for Work and Pensions of the United Kingdom government, with responsibility for disabled people. The role has also been known as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Disabled People, Health and Work.
Iain Duncan Smith served as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2010 to 2016. A member and previous leader of the Conservative Party, Duncan Smith was appointed to the cabinet by Prime Minister David Cameron following the 2010 general election and the formation of the coalition government between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. He was reappointed after the Conservatives won a majority in the 2015 general election but resigned in March 2016 in opposition to disability benefit cuts.
The Minister for Work and Pensions, or Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in the House of Lords, is a junior position in the Department for Work and Pensions in the British government. It is currently held by The Viscount Younger of Leckie, who took the office on 1 January 2023.
The Borne government was the forty-third government of the French Fifth Republic, formed on 16 May 2022 and headed by Élisabeth Borne as Prime Minister under President Emmanuel Macron. It served as a caretaker government in early January 2024, before Gabriel Attal was appointed prime minister by Macron.
