Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

United Kingdom Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Royal Arms as used by Her Majesty's Government
Incumbent David Gauke since 11 June 2017
Department for Work and Pensions
Style	The Right Honourable (Formal prefix) Work & Pensions Secretary
Appointer	Elizabeth II
Inaugural holder	George Barnes
Formation	10 December 1916
Website	Work and Pensions

United Kingdom

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Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, or informally Work and Pensions Secretary 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 division 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.

Ministers and Secretaries of State

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


Name		Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
	George Nicoll Barnes	10 December 1916	17 August 1917	Labour		David Lloyd George (Coalition)
	John Hodge	17 August 1917	10 January 1919	Labour
	Sir Laming Worthington-Evans, Bt	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		Bonar Law
	George Tryon	31 October 1922	22 January 1924	Conservative		Stanley Baldwin
	Frederick Roberts	23 January 1924	3 November 1924	Labour		Ramsay MacDonald
	George Tryon	11 November 1924	4 June 1929	Conservative		Stanley Baldwin
	Frederick Roberts	7 June 1929	24 August 1931	Labour		Ramsay MacDonald
	George Tryon	3 September 1931	18 June 1935	Conservative		Ramsay MacDonald (1st & 2nd National Min.)
	Robert Hudson	18 June 1935	30 July 1936	Conservative		Stanley Baldwin (3rd National Min.) Neville Chamberlain (4th Nat.Min.; War Coalition) Winston Churchill (War Coalition)
	Herwald Ramsbotham	30 July 1936	7 June 1939	Conservative
	Sir Walter Womersley	7 June 1939	26 July 1945	Conservative
	Wilfred Paling	3 August 1945	17 April 1947	Labour		Clement 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		Sir Winston Churchill


Name		Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
	Sir William Jowitt	8 October 1944	23 May 1945	Labour		Winston Churchill (War Coalition)
	Leslie Hore-Belisha	25 May 1945	26 July 1945	National Independent		Winston Churchill (Caretaker Min.)
	Jim Griffiths	4 August 1945	28 February 1950	Labour		Clement Attlee
	Edith Summerskill	28 February 1950	26 October 1951	Labour		Clement Attlee
	Osbert Peake	31 October 1951	3 September 1953	Conservative		Sir Winston Churchill

Posts of Minister of Pensions and Minister of National Insurance merged in 1953.


Name			Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
	Osbert Peake		3 September 1953	20 December 1955	Conservative		Sir Winston Churchill Sir Anthony Eden Harold Macmillan
	John Boyd-Carpenter		20 December 1955	16 July 1962	Conservative
	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

Name			Term of 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		Harold Wilson

Name			Term of 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.

Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
	John Moore		25 July 1988	23 July 1989	Conservative		Margaret Thatcher John Major
	Tony Newton		23 July 1989	10 April 1992	Conservative
	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		Tony Blair

Name		Portrait	Term of 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	18 March 2016	Conservative		David Cameron (Coalition)
	Iain Duncan Smith		12 May 2010	18 March 2016	Conservative		David Cameron (II)
	Stephen Crabb		19 March 2016	14 July 2016	Conservative		David Cameron (II)
	Damian Green		14 July 2016	11 June 2017	Conservative		Theresa May (I)
	David Gauke		11 June 2017	Incumbent	Conservative		Theresa May (II)

Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions
Ministers of Pensions	Barnes Hodge Worthington-Evans Macpherson Tryon Roberts Tryon Roberts Tryon Hudson Ramsbotham Womersley Paling Hynd Buchanan Marquand Isaacs Heathcoat-Amory
Ministers of Social Insurance/National Insurance	Jowitt Hore-Belisha Griffiths Summerskill Peake
Ministers of Pensions and National Insurance	Peake Boyd-Carpenter Macpherson Wood Herbison
Ministers of Social Security	Herbison Hart
Secretaries of State for Social Services	Crossman Joseph Castle Ennals Jenkin Fowler Moore
Secretaries of State for Social Security	Moore Newton Lilley Harman Darling
Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions	Darling Smith Johnson Blunkett Hutton Hain Purnell Cooper Duncan Smith Crabb Green Gauke

Cabinet of the United Kingdom
Great Offices of State	Prime Minister/First Lord of the Treasury Chancellor of the Exchequer/Second Lord of the Treasury Foreign and Commonwealth Home
Other Cabinet posts	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Leader of the House of Lords/Lord Privy Seal Minister for the Cabinet Office/First Secretary of State Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Communities and Local Government Culture, Media and Sport Defence Education Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Exiting the European Union Health International Development International Trade/President of the Board of Trade Lord Chancellor/Secretary of State for Justice Northern Ireland Scotland Transport Wales Work and Pensions
Also attend Cabinet	Attorney General Chief Secretary to the Treasury Chief Whip Leader of the House of Commons/Lord President of the Council Minister of State for Immigration

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Ministers and Secretaries of State

See also