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 United Kingdom government department of His Majesty's Government 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 largest in terms of expenditure (£187bn).
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 has served as Secretary of State for Transport since 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire since 2005.
Stephen Crabb is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Preseli Pembrokeshire since 2005 and Chairman of the Welsh Affairs Select Committee since 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.
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 some industries. The government's spell in office was marked by post-war austerity measures, the violent crushing of pro-independence and communist movements in Malaya, the grant of independence to India, the engagement in the Cold War against Soviet Communism as well as the creation of the country's National Health Service (NHS).
Esther Louise McVey is a British politician and television presenter serving as Minister of State without Portfolio in the Cabinet Office since November 2023. A member of the Conservative Party, she has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tatton since 2017. She previously served in the Cabinet as Minister of State for Housing and Planning from 2019 to 2020 and as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from January to November 2018; she was a junior minister as Minister of State for Employment from 2014 to 2015.
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 politician serving as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Roads and Local Transport since November 2023. 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 was first elected at the 2010 general election as Member of Parliament (MP) for Hexham.
Justin Paul Tomlinson is a British politician and former marketing executive who served as Minister of State for Disabled People, Work and Health from 2019 to 2021. A member of the Conservative Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Swindon since 2010.
Universal Credit is a United Kingdom 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, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, and Income Support; Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit; 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.
Workfare in the United Kingdom is a system of welfare regulations put into effect by UK governments at various times. Individuals subject to workfare must undertake work in return for their welfare benefit payments or risk losing them. Workfare policies are politically controversial. Supporters claim that such policies help people move off welfare and into employment whereas critics argue that they are analogous to slavery or indentured servitude and counterproductive in decreasing unemployment.
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 serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mid Sussex since 2019. She has been serving as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Social Mobility, Youth and Progression since October 2022. She served as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Safeguarding from September to October 2022.
The Minister of State for Disabled People, Health and Work is a mid-level minister in the Department for Work and Pensions of the United Kingdom government, with responsibility for disabled people. The position is currently vacant.
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 of state for veterans' affairs is a ministerial position in the Cabinet Office in the British government, currently held by Johnny Mercer who took the office on 25 October 2022. Earlier, it was jointly with the Ministry of Defence. The officeholder has attended cabinet since 7 July 2022.
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 is the forty-third and current government of the French Fifth Republic, formed on 16 May 2022 and headed by Élisabeth Borne as Prime Minister under the presidency of Emmanuel Macron.
