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| United Kingdom Secretary of State for Work and Pensions | |
|---|---|
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| 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 | |
| Reports to | The Prime Minister |
| Seat | Westminster |
| Nominator | The Prime Minister |
| Appointer | The Monarch (on the advice of thePrime Minister) |
| Term length | At His Majesty's Pleasure |
| Formation |
|
| First holder | George Barnes (as Minister for Pensions) |
| Deputy | Minister of State for Employment |
| Salary | £159,038 per annum(2022)[1] (including £86,584MP salary)[2] |
Thesecretary of state for work and pensions, also referred to as thework and pensions secretary, is asecretary of state in theGovernment of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the business of theDepartment for Work and Pensions.[3] The incumbent is a member of theCabinet of the United Kingdom.
The office holder works alongside the otherwork and pensions ministers. The correspondingshadow minister is theshadow secretary of state for work and pensions. The performance of the secretary of state is also scrutinised by theWork and Pensions Select Committee.
The office is currently held byPat McFadden
Corresponding to what is generally known as alabour minister in many other countries, the work and pensions secretary's remit includes:
It was created on 8 June 2001 by the merger of the employment division of theDepartment for Education and Employment and theDepartment of Social Security.[5]
TheMinistry 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 separateMinistry of National Insurance (titled the Ministry of Social Insurance until 17 November 1944) was formed; the two merged in 1953 as theMinistry of Pensions and National Insurance.[5] In 1966 the Ministry was renamed theMinistry of Social Security, but this was short-lived, as the ministry merged with theMinistry of Health in 1968 to form theDepartment of Health and Social Security. Confusingly, the secretary of state responsible for this department was titled theSecretary of State for Social Services. The department was de-merged in 1988, creating the separateDepartment of Health and Department of Social Security.
Colour key (for political parties):
Labour / Conservative / Liberal / National Labour / National Independent
| 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 | 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 | 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 | Term of office | Political party | Cabinet | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Richard Crossman | 1 November 1968 | 19 June 1970 | Labour | Wilson II | |
_Crop.jpg) | Keith Joseph | 20 June 1970 | 4 March 1974 | Conservative | Heath | |
.jpg) | 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 theSecretary of State for Social Security and theSecretary of State for Health in 1988.
| 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 | ||
* Incumbent's length of term last updated: 25 October 2025.
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