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 secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the business of the Department for Work and Pensions.^[3] The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.

United Kingdom Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Royal Arms of His Majesty's Government
Incumbent Liz Kendall since 5 July 2024
Department for Work and Pensions
Style	Work and Pensions Secretary (informal) The Right Honourable (within the UK and Commonwealth)
Type	Minister of the Crown
Status	Secretary of State
Member of	Cabinet Privy Council
Reports to	The Prime Minister
Seat	Westminster
Nominator	The Prime Minister
Appointer	The Monarch (on the advice of the Prime Minister)
Term length	At His Majesty's Pleasure
Formation	10 December 1916: (as Minister for Pensions) 8 June 2001: (as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions)
First holder	George Barnes (as Minister for Pensions)
Deputy	Minister of State for Employment
Salary	£159,038 per annum (2022)[1] (including £86,584 MP salary)[2]

The office holder works alongside the other work and pensions ministers. The corresponding shadow minister is the shadow secretary of state for work and pensions. The performance of the secretary of state is also scrutinised by the Work and Pensions Select Committee.

The office is currently held by Liz Kendall.

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
• Fiscal Consolidation
• Providing support for disability
• Support for families and children^[4]

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.^[5]

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.^[5] 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.

List of ministers and secretaries of state

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

Minister of Pensions (1916–1953)

Main article: Ministry of Pensions § Ministers

Minister			Term of office		Political party	Cabinet
		George Nicoll Barnes	10 December 1916	17 August 1917	Labour	Lloyd George
		John Hodge	17 August 1917	10 January 1919	Labour
		Laming Worthington-Evans	10 January 1919	2 April 1920	Conservative
		Ian Macpherson	2 April 1920	19 October 1922	Liberal
		George Tryon	31 October 1922	22 January 1924	Conservative	Law
						Baldwin I
		Frederick Roberts	23 January 1924	3 November 1924	Labour	MacDonald I
		George Tryon	11 November 1924	4 June 1929	Conservative	Baldwin II
		Frederick Roberts	7 June 1929	24 August 1931	Labour	MacDonald II
		George Tryon	3 September 1931	18 June 1935	Conservative	National I
						National II
		Robert Hudson	18 June 1935	30 July 1936	Conservative	National III
		Herwald Ramsbotham	30 July 1936	7 June 1939	Conservative
						National IV
		Walter Womersley	7 June 1939	26 July 1945	Conservative	Chamberlain War
						Churchill War
						Churchill Caretaker
		Wilfred Paling	3 August 1945	17 April 1947	Labour	Attlee
		John Burns Hynd	17 April 1947	7 October 1947	Labour
		George Buchanan	7 October 1947	2 July 1948	Labour
		Hilary Marquand	2 July 1948	17 January 1951	Labour
		George Isaacs	17 January 1951	26 October 1951	Labour
		Derick Heathcoat-Amory	5 November 1951	3 September 1953	Conservative	Churchill III

Minister of Social Insurance/National Insurance (1944–1953)

Minister			Term of office		Political party	Cabinet
		William Jowitt	8 October 1944	23 May 1945	Labour	Churchill War
		Leslie Hore-Belisha	25 May 1945	26 July 1945	National Independent	Churchill Caretaker
		Jim Griffiths	4 August 1945	28 February 1950	Labour	Attlee
		Edith Summerskill	28 February 1950	26 October 1951	Labour
		Osbert Peake	31 October 1951	3 September 1953	Conservative	Churchill III
Posts of Minister of Pensions and Minister of National Insurance merged in 1953.

Minister of Pensions and National Insurance (1953–1966)

Main article: Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance § Ministers

Minister			Term of office		Political party	Cabinet
		Osbert Peake	3 September 1953	20 December 1955	Conservative	Churchill III
						Eden
		John Boyd-Carpenter	20 December 1955	16 July 1962	Conservative
						Macmillan I
						Macmillan II
		Niall Macpherson	16 July 1962	21 October 1963	Conservative
		Richard Wood	21 October 1963	16 October 1964	Conservative	Douglas-Home
		Margaret Herbison	18 October 1964	6 August 1966	Labour	Wilson I

Minister of Social Security (1966–1968)

Main article: Ministry of Social Security (United Kingdom) § Ministers

Minister			Term of office		Political party	Cabinet
		Margaret Herbison	6 August 1966	26 July 1967	Labour	Wilson II
		Judith Hart	26 July 1967	1 November 1968	Labour

Secretary of State for Social Services (1968–1988)

Main article: Secretary of State for Social Services

Secretary of State			Term of office		Political party	Cabinet
		Richard Crossman	1 November 1968	19 June 1970	Labour	Wilson II
		Keith Joseph	20 June 1970	4 March 1974	Conservative	Heath
		Barbara Castle	5 March 1974	8 April 1976	Labour	Wilson III
						Wilson IV
		David Ennals	8 April 1976	4 May 1979	Labour	Callaghan
		Patrick Jenkin[6]	5 May 1979	13 September 1981	Conservative	Thatcher I
		Norman Fowler[7]	14 September 1981	13 June 1987	Conservative	Thatcher II
		John Moore[8]	13 June 1987	24 July 1988	Conservative	Thatcher III
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)

Main article: Secretary of State for Social Security

Secretary of State			Term of office		Political party	Cabinet
		John Moore[8]	25 July 1988	22 July 1989	Conservative	Thatcher III
		Tony Newton[9]	23 July 1989	9 April 1992	Conservative
						Major I
		Peter Lilley[10]	10 April 1992	1 May 1997	Conservative	Major II
		Harriet Harman[11]	1 May 1997	27 July 1998	Labour	Blair I
		Alistair Darling[12]	27 July 1998	8 June 2001	Labour

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (2001–present)

Secretary of State			Term of office		Political party	Cabinet
		Alistair Darling[12]	8 June 2001	29 May 2002	Labour	Blair II
		Andrew Smith[13]	29 May 2002	8 September 2004	Labour
		Alan Johnson[14]	8 September 2004	6 May 2005	Labour
		David Blunkett[15]	6 May 2005	2 November 2005	Labour	Blair III
		John Hutton[16]	2 November 2005	28 June 2007	Labour
		Peter Hain[17]	28 June 2007	24 January 2008	Labour	Brown
		James Purnell[18] MP for Stalybridge and Hyde	24 January 2008	5 June 2009	Labour
		Yvette Cooper[19] MP for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford	6 June 2009	6 May 2010	Labour
		Iain Duncan Smith[20] MP for Chingford and Woodford Green	12 May 2010	18 March 2016	Conservative	Cameron-Clegg
			Duncan Smith's tenure			Cameron II
		Stephen Crabb[21] MP for Preseli Pembrokeshire	19 March 2016	14 July 2016	Conservative
		Damian Green[22] MP for Ashford	14 July 2016	11 June 2017	Conservative	May I
		David Gauke[23] MP for South West Hertfordshire	11 June 2017	8 January 2018	Conservative	May II
		Esther McVey[24] MP for Tatton	8 January 2018	15 November 2018	Conservative
		Amber Rudd[25] MP for Hastings and Rye	16 November 2018	7 September 2019	Conservative
						Johnson I
		Thérèse Coffey[26] MP for Coastal Suffolk	8 September 2019	6 September 2022	Conservative
						Johnson II
		Chloe Smith[27] MP for Norwich North	6 September 2022	25 October 2022	Conservative	Truss
		Mel Stride MP for Central Devon	25 October 2022	5 July 2024	Conservative	Sunak
		Liz Kendall MP for Leicester West	5 July 2024	Incumbent	Labour	Starmer

* Incumbent's length of term last updated: 29 May 2025.

Timeline

See also

• Secretary of State for Employment
• Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Pensions and Financial Inclusion