Find out about the information available on the DWP website

About the Department

This chart shows how the main parts of the Department are organised. You can find out more about our purpose, aims and organisation from the text below the chart. Or click on the links in the chart to find out more about a part of the Department.

You can find out about working for the Department here.

Our purpose
To promote opportunity and independence for all through modern, customer-focused services.

Our aims

• To sustain a higher proportion of people in work than ever before, while providing security for those who cannot work
• To halve child poverty within a decade and eliminate it in a generation
• To combat poverty and promote security and independence in retirement for today's and tomorrow's pensioners
• To improve the rights and opportunities for disabled people in a fair and inclusive society
• To modernise welfare delivery so as to improve the accessibility, accuracy and value for money of services to our customers

To see how we are performing against the targets for achieving our aims, see Public Service Agreement and Service Delivery Agreement.

Our organisation
Our main customer groups are:

• children
• people of working age
• pensioners
• disabled people and their carers - who are also part of each main group.

We design and monitor our strategies through two client groups for:

• Working Age and Children
• Pensions and Disability

We provide our services to customers through our Businesses:

• Jobcentre Plus - helping people of working age to find work and get any benefits they are entitled to, and offering a dedicated service to employers to fill their vacancies quickly and effectively
• The Pension Service - providing services and support for pensioners and people looking into pensions and retirement
• The Child Support Agency - administering the Child Support scheme
• The Disability and Carers Service - delivering a range of benefits to disabled people and carers
• The Appeals Service - providing an independent tribunal body for hearing appeals
• Debt Management - delivering debt management and recovery systems.

To find out more, see our Organisation Chart. Our Departmental Framework sets out how the various parts of the Department work together.

The Rent Service is an executive agency of DWP and joined the Department in April 2004.

Since July 2002, DWP Ministers have also taken responsibility for the Health and Safety Commission and Health and Safety Executive, which are separate from the Department.