Department for Work and Pensions

Department for Work and Pensions
Welsh: Yr Adran Gwaith a Phensiynau
Department overview
Formed 8 June 2001 (2001-06-08)
Preceding Department
Jurisdiction United Kingdom
Headquarters Caxton House
7th Floor
6-12 Tothill Street
London
SW1H 9NA
Employees 84,718 (as of May 2016)[1]
Annual budget £176.3 billion (Resource AME),[2]
£6.3 billion (Resource DEL),[3]
£0.3 billion (Capital DEL),
£2.3 billion (Non-Budget Expenditure)
Estimated for year ending 31 March 2017[4]
Minister responsible
Department executive
Website www.gov.uk/dwp
United Kingdom
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The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is the largest government department in the United Kingdom, and is responsible for welfare and pension policy.

The department has four operational organisations: Jobcentre Plus administers working age benefits such as Jobseeker's Allowance, and decides which claimants receive Employment and Support Allowance;[6] the Pension Service which pays the Basic State Pension and Pension Credit and provides information on related issues; Disability and Carers Service which provides financial support to disabled people and their carers; and the Child Maintenance Group which provides the statutory Child Support Schemes, operating as the Child Support Agency and the Child Maintenance Service.

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.[7][8][9]

The department was initially tasked with creating Jobcentre Plus and the Pensions Service from the remains of the Employment Service and the Benefits Agency.[8] The department is therefore responsible for welfare and pension policy.[10] It aims "to help its customers become financially independent and to help reduce child poverty".[11]

Ministers

The DWP Ministers are:[11][12]

Minister Rank Portfolio
The Rt Hon. Esther McVey Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Overall responsibility for the department
Alok Sharma MP Minister of State for Employment Universal credit, employment strategy and labour market interventions, conditionality and sanctions, youth employment, women's employment, black, Asian and minority ethnic employment, fuller working lives, new enterprise allowance, Jobcentre Plus, partnership working and employer engagement, EU and international affairs, and support to the Secretary of State on devolution
Sarah Newton MP Minister of State for Disabled People Cross-government disability issues, work and health strategy, disability employment, support for those at risk of falling out of work, financial support for sick and disabled claimants, specific welfare and health-related issues, and oversight of the Health and Safety Executive and the Office for Nuclear Regulation
Guy Opperman MP Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Pensions and Financial Inclusion Pensioner benefits, private and occupational pensions, automatic enrolment into a workplace pension, oversight of arms-length body, and financial guidance
Justin Tomlinson MP[13][14] Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Family Support, Housing and Child Maintenance Cross-DWP Commons spokesperson, workless families, relationship support and support for disadvantaged groups, childcare and maternity benefits, financial support for housing, other social assistance, and benefit cap implementation and benefit uprating
Baroness Buscombe of Goring Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions (Lords) Cross-DWP Lords spokesperson, fraud, error and debt strategy, national insurance number policy, oversight of departmental statutory instruments and managing the relationship with the Social Security Advisory Committee, departmental planning and performance management, and departmental business

The Permanent Secretary is Peter Schofield.[5]

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'.[15]

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. At Tyneview Park the following centres are found:

  • Future Pension Centre (FPC) provides state pension forecasts for people approaching retirement age.[16]
  • Newcastle Pension Centre (NPC) originally dealt with the London area and Home counties and part of West Midlands. Now the service is virtual so all pension centres deal with all areas of the country.[17]
  • Pension Tracing Service (PTS) helps track old pensions and pension schemes.[18]
  • 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.[19]

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:

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:[20]

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. [21][22] 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 MP's, the Public Accounts Committee accused the DWP of a culture of indifference to claimants.[23]

Former structure

Prior to 2008, The Pension Service and the Disability and Carers Service were two separate executive agencies however the decision was made in April 2008 to merge both agencies into one entity named The Pension, Disability and Carers Service.[24]

Both former agencies kept their corporate branding and provided services under their separate identities. The decision was made due to the two agencies sharing roughly fifty percent of the same customers and as a single agency, the rationalisation of services would provide a better service for customers.[25]

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.[26] 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 names continuing as brand identifiers.

DWP buildings at Quarry Hill, Leeds (known locally as 'The Pink Palace' and 'The Kremlin')

Public bodies and estate

The department's public bodies include:[27]

The department has corporate buildings in London, Leeds, Blackpool, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Newcastle upon Tyne, Warrington and Sheffield. Jobcentre Plus, The Pension Service and the Disability and Carers Service operate through a network of around 1,000 Jobcentres, contact centres and benefit processing centres across the UK.

Budget

The total annual budget of the department in 2011-12 is £151.6 billion, representing approximately 28% of total UK Government spending.[28] The department spends a far greater share of national wealth than any other department in Britain, by a wide margin. The department spends an average of £348.9 million with suppliers a month.[29]

A report of February 2012 stated that a sum amounting to billions of pounds of money payable through possible benefit claims had not been claimed. In 2009-2010 the Dept stated £1.95 billion job-seekers allowance, £2 billion income support and employment and support allowance, £2.4 billion in council tax, £2.8bn in pension credit and £3.1 billion for housing benefit; in total £12.25 billion had not been claimed.[30]

Research

The department is a major commissioner of external social science research, with the objective of providing the evidence base needed to inform departmental strategy, policy-making and delivery.[31] The department has developed and uses various microsimulation and other models, including the Policy Simulation Model (for appraisal of policy options), Pensim2 (to create projections of pension entitlements up to 2100) and Inform (to produce the department's benefit caseload forecasts). Datasets held include the LLMDB and the Family Resources Survey.

During 2012 the department announced records of the number of people born outside of the United Kingdom ("non-UK nationals") claiming work-related benefits from 2011, using data already collated within the department together with those of HM Revenue and Customs and the UK Border Agency[32] (whose duties are now fulfilled by UK Visas and Immigration).

Devolution and parity

Employment, health and safety, and social security policy are reserved matters in Scotland.[33]

Northern Ireland has parity with Great Britain in three areas:

Policy in these areas is technically devolved but, in practice, follows policy set by Parliament to provide consistency across the United Kingdom.[34] Employment and health and safety policy are fully devolved.

The department's main counterparts in Northern Ireland are:

Controversy

In August 2015 the department admitted using fictional stories from made-up claimants on leaflets advertising the positive impact of benefit sanctions, following a Freedom of Information request from Welfare Weekly,[35] claiming that they were for "illustrative purposes only"[36][37] and that it was "quite wrong" to pass these off as genuine quotes.[38]

Later that month figures were released which showed that between December 2011 and February 2014, 2,650 people died shortly after their Work Capability Assessment told them that they should be finding work.[39] The DWP had fought hard for the figures not to be released, with chief minister Iain Duncan Smith at one point telling Parliament that they did not exist.[40]

According to research published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health by Oxford University and Liverpool University, there were an additional 590 suicides between 2010 and 2013 in areas where Work Capability Assessments were carried out. The researchers claimed the DWP had introduced the policy of moving people off benefits without understanding the consequences.[41]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "DWP's headcount and payroll data for May 2016" (ODS). Department for Work and Pensions. 1 July 2016. Archived from the original on 18 September 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  2. ↑ "How to understand public sector spending - Annually managed expenditure (AME)". HM Treasury. 29 May 2013. Archived from the original on 18 September 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2016. Annually managed expenditure, or AME, is more difficult to explain or control as it is spent on programmes which are demand-led – such as welfare, tax credits or public sector pensions. It is spent on items that may be unpredictable or not easily controlled by departments, and are relatively large in comparison to other government departments.
  3. ↑ "How to understand public sector spending - Departmental Expenditure Limits (DEL)". HM Treasury. 29 May 2013. Archived from the original on 18 September 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2016. The government budget that is allocated to and spent by government departments is known as the Departmental Expenditure Limit, or DEL. This amount, and how it is split between government departments, is set at Spending Reviews. Things that departmental budgets can be spent on include the running of the services that they oversee such as schools or hospital, and the everyday cost of resources such as staff. The government controls DEL by deciding how much each department gets.
  4. ↑ Central Government Supply Estimates 2016-17. London: HM Treasury. 2016. p. 138. Archived from the original on 17 September 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  5. 1 2 HM Government (12 January 2018). "Appointment of Peter Schofield as Permanent Secretary at the Department for Work and Pensions". www.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 16 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  6. ↑ "Huge Victory For Sick And Disabled Claimants As Atos Chased Out Of Vicious Benefit Assessments | the void". Johnnyvoid.wordpress.com. 22 February 2014. Archived from the original on 27 June 2015. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  7. ↑ E Carmel; T Papadopoulos. "The New governance of Social Security in Britain". University of Bath. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  8. 1 2 Dept. of Social Security. "Resource Accounts 2000-2001". rightsnet.org. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  9. ↑ European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions Archived 29 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 6 June 2012
  10. ↑ "About - Department for Work and Pensions - GOV.UK". Archived from the original on 1 September 2009. Retrieved 25 August 2009.
  11. 1 2 "Department for Work and Pensions - GOV.UK". Archived from the original on 23 April 2011. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
  12. ↑ "Her Majesty's Official Opposition". UK Parliament. Archived from the original on 2 December 2010. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
  13. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 10 July 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  14. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 16 July 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  15. ↑ "[ARCHIVED CONTENT] UK Government Web Archive – The National Archives - About DWP - DWP". Dwp.gov.uk. 25 January 2013. Archived from the original on 28 January 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  16. ↑ "Get a State Pension statement - GOV.UK". Direct.gov.uk. 10 June 2015. Archived from the original on 16 October 2012. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  17. ↑ "Contact the Pension Service - GOV.UK". Direct.gov.uk. 12 November 2014. Archived from the original on 3 October 2012. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  18. ↑ "Find a lost pension - GOV.UK". Direct.gov.uk. 11 December 2014. Archived from the original on 21 September 2012. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  19. ↑ "State Pension if you retire abroad - GOV.UK". Direct.gov.uk. 2 February 2015. Archived from the original on 2 October 2012. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  20. ↑ "Carers and disability benefits - GOV.UK". Dwp.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 12 July 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  21. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 24 May 2018. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  22. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 25 May 2018. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  23. ↑ Disability claimants owed £340m after DWP blunder, say MPs Archived 18 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine. The Guardian
  24. ↑ "[ARCHIVED CONTENT] UK Government Web Archive – The National Archives - Pension, Disability and Carers Service Business Plan 2008/09" (PDF). Dwp.gov.uk. July 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 February 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  25. ↑ "[ARCHIVED CONTENT] UK Government Web Archive – The National Archives - DWP Press release: Joining up to improve service - 22 January 2008". Dwp.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 28 January 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  26. ↑ "Government announces organisational changes to Jobcentre Plus and the Pension, Disability and Carers Service - Press releases - GOV.UK". Dwp.gov.uk. 12 September 2011. Archived from the original on 1 April 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  27. ↑ "Departments, agencies and public bodies - GOV.UK". Archived from the original on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
  28. ↑ News Distribution Service Archived 15 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved September 2011
  29. ↑ "Open Spending Data bought to life". www.spendnetwork.com. Archived from the original on 26 October 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  30. ↑ BBC 23 February 2012 report Archived 18 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 8 July 2012
  31. ↑ "Department for Work and Pensions - GOV.UK". Archived from the original on 2 May 2011. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
  32. ↑ Department for Works and Pensions - newsroom:20 January 2012 Archived 13 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 9 July 2012
  33. ↑ "Scotland Act 1998". www.legislation.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 22 March 2018. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  34. ↑ "Northern Ireland Act 1998". www.legislation.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 23 March 2018. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  35. ↑ "DWP uses fake claimants in benefit sanctions leaflet". Dial2Donate. Archived from the original on 7 January 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  36. ↑ Kevin Rawlinson; Frances Perraudin (18 August 2015). "DWP admits inventing quotes from fake 'benefits claimants' for sanctions leaflet". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 December 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  37. ↑ Kevin Rawlinson (21 August 2015). "Fake benefits claimant 'Zac' quoted in other DWP documents". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 December 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  38. ↑ The Minister for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan-Smith, admits a leaflet about benefits containing fake quotes from fictitious claimants was 'wrong' Andrew Sparrow (24 August 2015). "Use of fake quotes in benefits leaflet 'quite wrong', Iain Duncan Smith admits". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  39. ↑ https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/456359/mortality-statistics-esa-ib-sda.pdf
  40. ↑ Stone, Jon (27 August 2015). "Thousands have died soon after being found 'fit to work' by the DWP's benefit tests". The Independent. Archived from the original on 29 August 2015. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  41. ↑ David Rankin (17 November 2015). "Hundreds of extra suicides in 'fit to work' regions, study finds". Times newspapers. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
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