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Ministry of Pensions

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Ministry of Pensions
Department overview
Formed1916
Dissolved1953
Superseding agency
JurisdictionUnited Kingdom

The Ministry of Pensions was a British government ministry responsible for the administration and delivery of pensions. It was headed by the Minister of Pensions.

History

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In September 1916, a Cabinet Committee on Pensions recommended that the work of the War Office, Chelsea Hospital commissioners and Central Army Pensions Issue Office should be taken over by a Pensions Board. The Ministry of Pensions Act 1916 created a single Ministry of Pensions to administer naval and military war pensions to former members of the Armed Forces and their dependants, and to provide medical care for the disabled.[1]

It was expanded rapidly during the opening months of the Second World War by secondment of civil servants from the Inland Revenue and other government departments. In 1940, most of the Ministry was moved to Cleveleys, north of Blackpool, Lancashire. This central office kept records of pensions granted, issued pension books and prepared cases for appeal tribunals.[1] The Rossall School was taken over initially, but later several hundred employees worked in prefabricated one-storey office buildings assembled on a site that had been part of the Holt's farm in the Norcross section of Carleton. The Ministry moved to buildings on Millbank in London in 1949.

In 1953, the functions of the Ministry of Pensions were merged with those of the Ministry of National Insurance into a new Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance.[1]

Ministers

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Ministers of Pensions (1916–1953)
Minister Term of office Political party Cabinet
George Nicoll Barnes 10 December 1916 17 August 1917 Labour Lloyd George
John Hodge 17 August 1917 10 January 1919 Labour
Laming Worthington-Evans 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 Law
Baldwin I
Frederick Roberts 23 January 1924 3 November 1924 Labour MacDonald I
George Tryon 11 November 1924 4 June 1929 Conservative Baldwin II
Frederick Roberts 7 June 1929 24 August 1931 Labour MacDonald II
George Tryon 3 September 1931 18 June 1935 Conservative National I
National II
Robert Hudson 18 June 1935 30 July 1936 Conservative National III
Herwald Ramsbotham 30 July 1936 7 June 1939 Conservative
National IV
Walter Womersley 7 June 1939 26 July 1945 Conservative Chamberlain War
Churchill War
Churchill Caretaker
Wilfred Paling 3 August 1945 17 April 1947 Labour 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 Churchill III

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Records created or inherited by the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance, and of related, predecessor and successor bodies". The National Archives. Retrieved 2 August 2024.