| Secretary of State for Work and Pensions |
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Arms of Her Majesty's Government Department for Work and Pensions |
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| Style | The Right Honourable |
| Appointer | David Cameron |
| Inaugural holder | George Barnes |
| Formation | 10 December 1916 |
| Website | Work and Pensions |
| United Kingdom | |
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The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is a post in the British Cabinet, responsible for the Department for Work and Pensions. It was created on 8 June 2001 by the merger of the Employment part of the Department for Education and Employment and the Department of Social Security.
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 (initially titled the Ministry of Social Insurance, it changed its name on 17 November 1944) was formed; the two merged in 1953 as the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance. 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.
Minister of Social Insurance/National Insurance (1944–1953) |
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| Name | Portrait | Took office | Left office | Political party | Prime Minister | |
| Sir William Jowitt | 8 October 1944 | 23 May 1945 | Labour | Winston Churchill | ||
| Leslie Hore-Belisha | 25 May 1945 | 26 July 1945 | National Independent | |||
| Jim Griffiths | 4 August 1945 | 28 February 1950 | Labour | Clement Attlee | ||
| Edith Summerskill | 28 February 1950 | 26 October 1951 | Labour | |||
| Osbert Peake | 31 October 1951 | 3 September 1953 | Conservative | Sir Winston Churchill | ||
Ministers of Pensions and National Insurance (1953–1966) |
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| Name | Took office | Left office | Political party | Prime Minister | ||
| Osbert Peake | 3 September 1953 | 20 December 1955 | Conservative | Sir Winston Churchill | ||
| Sir Anthony Eden | ||||||
| John Boyd-Carpenter | 20 December 1955 | 16 July 1962 | Conservative | |||
| Harold Macmillan | ||||||
| Niall Macpherson | 16 July 1962 | 21 October 1963 | Conservative | |||
| Richard Wood | 21 October 1963 | 16 October 1964 | Conservative | Sir Alec Douglas-Home | ||
| Margaret Herbison | 18 October 1964 | 6 August 1966 | Labour | Harold Wilson | ||
Ministers of Social Security (1966–1968) |
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| Name | Took office | Left office | Political party | Prime Minister | ||
| Margaret Herbison | 6 August 1966 | 26 July 1967 | Labour | Harold Wilson | ||
| Judith Hart | 26 July 1967 | 1 November 1968 | Labour | |||
Secretaries of State for Health and Social Services (1968–1988) |
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| Name | Took office | Left office | Political party | Prime Minister | ||
| Richard Crossman | 1 November 1968 | 19 June 1970 | Labour | Harold Wilson | ||
| Sir Keith Joseph | 20 June 1970 | 4 March 1974 | Conservative | Edward Heath | ||
| Barbara Castle | 5 March 1974 | 8 April 1976 | Labour | Harold Wilson | ||
| David Ennals | 8 April 1976 | 4 May 1979 | Labour | James Callaghan | ||
| Patrick Jenkin | 5 May 1979 | 14 September 1981 | Conservative | Margaret Thatcher | ||
| Norman Fowler | 14 September 1981 | 13 June 1987 | Conservative | |||
| John Moore | 13 June 1987 | 25 July 1988 | Conservative | |||
| Post split into the Secretary of State for Social Security and the Secretary of State for Health in 1988. | ||||||
Secretaries of State for Social Security (1988–2001) |
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| Name | Portrait | Took office | Left office | Political party | Prime Minister | |
| John Moore | 25 July 1988 | 23 July 1989 | Conservative | Margaret Thatcher | ||
| Tony Newton | 23 July 1989 | 10 April 1992 | Conservative | |||
| John Major | ||||||
| Peter Lilley | 10 April 1992 | 2 May 1997 | Conservative | |||
| Harriet Harman | 3 May 1997 | 27 July 1998 | Labour | Tony Blair | ||
| Alistair Darling | 27 July 1998 | 8 June 2001 | Labour | |||
Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions (2001– ) |
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| Name | Portrait | Took office | Left office | Political party | Prime Minister | |
| Alistair Darling | 8 June 2001 | 29 May 2002 | Labour | Tony Blair | ||
| Andrew Smith | 29 May 2002 | 8 September 2004 | Labour | |||
| Alan Johnson | 8 September 2004 | 6 May 2005 | Labour | |||
| David Blunkett | 6 May 2005 | 2 November 2005 | Labour | |||
| John Hutton | 2 November 2005 | 27 June 2007 | Labour | |||
| Peter Hain | 28 June 2007 | 24 January 2008 | Labour | Gordon Brown | ||
| James Purnell | 24 January 2008 | 4 June 2009 | Labour | |||
| Yvette Cooper | 5 June 2009 | 11 May 2010 | Labour | |||
| Iain Duncan Smith | 12 May 2010 | Incumbent | Conservative | David Cameron | ||
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