The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for welfare, pensions and child maintenance policy in Great Britain. 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 (£297 billion ). this article is dated 7 November 2017 but the relevant table is dated September 2025.
The department has two delivery services: Jobcentre Plus administers working age benefits: Universal Credit, Jobseeker's Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance; the Child Maintenance Service provides the statutory child support scheme. DWP also administers State Pension, Pension Credit, disability benefits such as Personal Independence Payment, and support for life events from Maternity Allowance to bereavement benefits.
Non-departmental bodies accountable to DWP include the Health and Safety Executive, The Pensions Regulator and the Money and Pensions Service. Northern Ireland is managed by the Department for Communities.
History
The department was created on 8 June 2001 as a merger of the Department of Social Security, Employment Service and the policy groups of the Department for Education and Employment involved in employment policy and international issues.European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions Retrieved 6 June 2012
The department was initially tasked with creating Jobcentre Plus and the Pensions Service from the Employment Service and the Benefits Agency. The department became responsible for welfare and pension policy. It aims "to help its customers become financially independent and to help reduce child poverty".
In 2012, the department fully subsumed pensions, disability and life events under the DWP name; Jobcentre Plus and Child Maintenance Service remain as distinct identities publicly.
Until 2021, the DWP was still using ICL VME based computer systems originating from its 1988 Pension Service Computer System to support state pension payments. The software was migrated to an in-house VME replacement system, in one of the largest computer replacement projects in Europe.
Ministers DWP ministers are as follows:
Minister Portrait Office Portfolio Pat McFadden Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Overall responsibility for the department; people of working age; employers; pensioners; families and children; disabled people, also in the Cabinet.UK Parliament, His Majesty's Government: The Cabinet, accessed on 22 November 2024 Sir Stephen Timms Minister of State for Social Security and DisabilityOversight of Disability Unit, and cross-government disability policy; Health and disability reform; Universal Credit and Legacy Benefits Delivery; Contributory Benefits, Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Disability Living Allowance (DLA), and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA); Carer’s Allowance (CA); Housing; Access to Work; Health Transformation Programme; Health and Safety Executive; Safeguarding (including Serious Case Panel); Serious Case Panel; Uprating and Benefit Cap; Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit and oversight of the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council Andrew Western Minister of State for EmploymentLabour Market, including employer engagement and the impact of AI; Jobs and Careers Service reform, including digital reform, Jobcentre Plus and post-19 careers; Work and Health: Occupational Health and Statutory Sick Pay; Employment support (incl. Restart, Pathways to Work); Conditionality and Sanctions; In Work Progression; Devolution; Disability Employment Jacqui Smith, Baroness Smith of Malvern Minister of State for Skills This is a shared role between the DWP and the Department of Education. Baroness Smith of Malvern was appointed Minister of State (Minister for Skills) in the Department for Education on 6 July 2024. This role also became part of the Department for Work and Pensions in September 2025 Youth Guarantee; apprenticeships, including the Growth and Skills Levy; Skills England; Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEETs), including pre-19 careers' skills related In Work Progression. Jointly with Department for Education. Maeve Sherlock, Baroness Sherlock Minister of State for Work and PensionsPoverty (including Child Poverty Strategy, Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF)); Child Maintenance Service; Parental Leave and Pay Review; Disadvantaged Groups; Maternity and Bereavement Benefits; Oversight of the Social Security Advisory Committee; Family Policy; Research (including Star Chamber); Oversight of departmental activity including People and Capability, Non-Executive Directors, Ministerial Correspondence and Freedom of Information (FOI) processes; Commercial functions; Legislation coordination, including Statutory Instruments Torsten Bell Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Pensions Private Pensions; State Pension; Pensioner Benefits; Social Fund; Net Zero; Arm’s Length Bodies (ALBs): Money and Pensions Service (MaPS), National Employment Savings Trust (NEST), The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO), Pensions Protection Fund (PPF), The Pensions Regulator (TPR). Jointly with HM Treasury.Lilian Greenwood Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Innovation, Fraud and DataFraud, Error and Debt; Oversight of departmental transformation, including digital, AI and service modernisation; International, including Migrant Access to Benefits; Departmental Transformation (including 2030 Strategy); Parliamentary engagement on Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) policy; Synergy; Customer Experience; Estates; DWP resilience; Shadow DWP Lords in the Commons (including Child poverty, Skills, Youth, Child Maintenance Service (CMS)); Deputy for Ministers of State in Parliament
The permanent secretary is Sir Peter Schofield.
Pension Service
With the creation of the department in June 2001, the Pension Service was created, bringing together many different departments and divisions. The Pension Service is a 'dedicated service for current and future pensioners'.
The Pension Service consists of local Pension Centres and centrally-based centres, many of latter are based at the Tyneview Park complex in Newcastle upon Tyne. The following centres are at Tyneview Park:
Future Pension Centre (FPC) provides state pension forecasts for people approaching retirement age. Newcastle Pension Centre (NPC) originally dealt with the London area, the Home Counties, and part of West Midlands. Now the service is virtual so all pension centres deal with all areas of the country. Pension Tracing Service (PTS) helps track old pensions and pension schemes. International Pension Centre (IPC) deals with all enquiries regarding the payment of state pension, bereavement benefits, incapacity benefits and other such benefits for those living abroad.
Local Pension Centres deal with localised claims for state pension and retirement related benefits. Pension Centres are found all over the country. Benefits dealt with at local Pension Centres include:
Pension Credit (replaced a former scheme known as 'Minimum Income Guarantee' in October 2003) Winter Fuel Payments Cold Weather Payments
Disability and Carers Service The Disability and Carers Service offers financial support for those who are disabled and their carers, whether in or out of employment. The DCS have offices throughout the country and deal with the following benefits:
Disability Living Allowance Attendance Allowance Carer's Allowance Vaccine Damage Payment Personal Independence Payment
The department has been found to frequently invite disabled people to interviews in buildings which are themselves not accessible to people with disabilities. When the person does not attend the interview they deny the person disability benefits, causing malnutrition and destitution. The DWP systematically underpaid disabled claimants who were transferred from Incapacity Benefit to Employment and Support allowance, risking hardship for claimants. A cross party committee of MPs, the Public Accounts Committee accused the DWP of a culture of indifference to claimants.
Since at least 2020 DWP has had a policy of cold-calling vulnerable and disabled people to attempt to pressure them into accepting lower benefit claims than they were legally entitled. In July 2021 the DWP agreed to stop after it was threatened with legal action.
Disability Confident scheme DWP administers the Disability Confident scheme, which supports employers to employ people with disabilities and to maintain the employment of staff who become disabled. The scheme operates as three levels: Level 1: Disability Confident Committed Level 2: Disability Confident Employer Level 3: Disability Confident Leader
The scheme is intended to encourage employers to "think differently about disability and take action to improve how they recruit, retain and develop disabled people", but the DWP lost more disability discrimination cases at employment tribunal than any other employer in Britain between 2016 and 2019.
Tell Us Once The DWP introduced the "Tell Us Once" system in 2011 to enable people to use a single interface to inform the government about a change in their personal circumstances. Using 'Tell Us Once', departments and agencies like the pensions service, HM Revenue & Customs, the Passport Office and local authorities are informed about a person's change in circumstances in parallel, removing the need for "repeated, unnecessary form-filling". Local authority departments making use of the service include libraries, housing departments, "Blue Badge" services and adult social care.London Borough of Sutton, Deaths and 'Tell us once', accessed 5 February 2021
In most cases, a Registrar of Births, Marriages and Deaths will notify a person who registers a death about using the service.Bereavement Advice Centre, The tell us once service, accessed 5 February 2021
DWP transferred to a cloud-based service in 2016 using the government's G-Cloud purchasing process for IT services. The Crown Commercial Service states that "cutting administration costs and reducing the overpayments of benefits—usually because of out-of-date records of people's personal circumstances—protected the cross-government savings generated by Tell Us Once, estimated at more than £20 million per year. By switching from a physical infrastructure to a cloud solution, DWP has also benefited from cost savings of around 50% on the IT running costs of Tell Us Once".
Former structure
Before 2008, The Pension Service and the Disability and Carers Service were two separate executive agencies; however, it was decided in April 2008 to merge them into one entity named The Pension, Disability and Carers Service.
Both former agencies kept their corporate branding and provided services under their separate identities. The decision was made due to the two agencies sharing about half of the same customers; as a single agency, the rationalisation of services would provide a better service for customers.
The status of PDCS as an executive agency (and its existence as a merged entity) was removed on 1 October 2011 with the functions being brought back inside the department; and both The Pension Service and the Disability and Carers Service becoming distinct entities once again. Prior to July 2012 the Child Support Agency was the operating arm of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (CMEC).
All are now operated wholly from within the department, with the brand names shut down in 2012.
Public bodies The department's public bodies include:
Executive agencies Skills England
Executive non-departmental public bodies Construction Industry Training Board Engineering Construction Industry Training Board Health and Safety Executive Money and Pensions Service