Catalogue description HM Treasury: Pay Group, Pay 3 Division, Branch 1, Personnel, Security, War Planning and Honours Team: Records (PSWPH prefix)

The division was created in 1986 during the re-organisation of the PAY division. From 1982 to 1985 the majority of the functions were carried out by the Pay Divisions (P1, P2 and P3) within HM Treasury.

The origins of the Treasury taking on (and eventually relinquishing) pay, allowances and pension functions for the Home Civil Service are as follows. On 12 November 1981, it was announced, by the Prime Minister, that the Civil Service Department (created on 1 November 1968) was to be abolished; the Treasury would take control of civil service manpower, pay, superannuation and allowances. The following functions were also transferred to a new Management and Personnel Office (MPO); management, organisation, overall efficiency (including recruitment), training and personnel policy. MPO was set up under a new Second Permanent Secretary in the Cabinet Office; and the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury and the Secretary to the Cabinet would become joint Heads of the Home Civil Service. An Order in Council (No. 1670 of 1981) to transfer the responsibilities was laid before Parliament on 1 December but the new arrangements were introduced administratively on 16 November 1981.

In 1988, the Cabinet Office MPO was abolished and its functions reallocated to the Treasury or to the newly created Office for the Minister of the Civil Service (OMCS), within the Cabinet Office. In 1992, the OMCS was abolished in favour of a new sub-department in the Cabinet Office, the Office of Public Service and Science (OPSS). OPSS role was to raise the standard of public services, including privatised utilities, improving the effectiveness and efficiency of central government; and science and technology policy and the science budget. Its Civil Service responsibilities included market testing and efficiency scrutinies; the Next Steps initiative; the effective and efficient use of information systems in Government, recruitment, training and development; senior and public appointments and interchange; equal opportunities; duties and standards of conduct and the promotion of greater openness in government. By 1993, the Paymaster General had taken over the the functions of civil service pay, personnel management, recruitment, relocation and industrial relations formerly the responsibility of the Treasury.