Ministry of Pensions
| File:Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government, 1901-1952).svg | |
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| Department overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1916 |
| Dissolved | 1953 |
| Superseding Department | |
| Jurisdiction | United Kingdom |
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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
[edit | edit source]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]
