Last week, MP for Chesterfield Toby Perkins opened a new office wing at Brightwell’s offices in Chesterfield.

The new office suite will house Brightwell’s Planning and Reporting team, amongst others, who have recently collected two awards for their work implementing fully online retirements for BTPS members.

Brightwell is a comprehensive provider of services to defined benefit (DB) pension schemes and its largest client is the BT Pension Scheme (BTPS). All pension scheme administration activities are handled from Brightwell’s offices at Venture House in Chesterfield.

BTPS is one of the largest corporate defined benefit pension schemes in the UK with c.£35.7bn of assets under management and 253,000 members, of which 212,000 are pensioners.

Each year, the Scheme pays out c.£2.8 billion in pension payments to the 212,000 members of the Scheme who are retired and their beneficiaries.
In addition to BTPS, Brightwell is also the administrator for the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme (MPS) which has c.120,000 members.

To ensure that Brightwell can meet its clients’ needs, both now and in the future, in 2022, it established the Brightwell Pensions Academy, a blended learned programme aimed at nurturing and developing early careers within the pensions industry.

Brightwell recruits people of all ages and backgrounds, with little or no pension knowledge who have strong potential, a great attitude and a willingness to learn. It is a blended learning programme combining classroom learning, hands-on experience, and work-based practical training. The programme takes 9-12 months to complete, upon which participants are promoted to the role of Pensions Administrator.

During his visit, Toby met with the latest academy cohort to learn more about their journey at Brightwell.

Andy Whitelaw, Head of Member Services, said: “We were delighted to have Toby join us to officially open our new office wing. Our workforce has grown since the start of the year, and we anticipate further increases with our planned future expansion. It’s a very exciting time for Brightwell.”

Toby Perkins MP said, “It’s great to see Brightwell’s progress since my last visit and celebrate the recent expansion. Brightwell is a thriving local employer providing real career paths in our area. It was fantastic to meet their current academy cohort, who are gaining the skills and experience to kickstart their career in pensions administration.

Their expansion is another vote of confidence in Chesterfield and the excellent people from our area who will work at Brightwell now and in the future.

This sort of expansion is exactly what the new Labour Government wants to see from employers – investing in local people, developing a skilled workforce and creating good jobs and exciting careers”.