Social security gives way to work and pensions

The new Labour government's reorganisation of Whitehall means that pensions now come under the new Department for Work and Pensions which brings together parts of the old Department for Social Security (DSS) and Department for Education and Employment. The secretary of state for work and pensions will be former DSS boss Alastair Darling.

Before the election the DSS had announced that a new Pensions Service would be set up to focus solely "on the needs of today's and tomorrow's pensioners, dealing with everything from changes in the law to changes in the leaflets."

The government says that the Pensions Service will aim to help those currently of working age by "working co-operatively with the private pensions industry to design and regulate appropriate pensions products and providing accurate information to help them make decisions about future pension provision." The plan is for the new service to be phased in between April 2002 and 2003.