News

Brightwell, the end-to-end service provider for DB schemes, and the primary services provider to the BT Pension Scheme (BTPS), today announced it has completed GMP equalisation (GMPe) for BTPS.

Brightwell began work on GMPe for BTPS in 2021. It assessed over 200,000 Scheme members, both past and present, to establish which members were due equalisation adjustments. This resulted in creating a plan to make the necessary adjustments for 60,000 eligible members.

All work including calculations, system changes and creation of the GMPe data was carried out in-house by the Brightwell team, in partnership with Procentia and the Scheme’s Actuary WTW.

Communications to historic members who had transferred out of the Scheme began in December 2022, including a tracing exercise to find those the Scheme no longer held records for. Then, in August 2023, the Scheme began contacting existing members with information about their equalisation adjustments. The amounts due were typically very small. The final tranche of members were contacted in February 2024.

Andy Whitelaw, Deputy Head of Member Services, Brightwell said: “Completing GMPe for BTPS is a huge milestone and we believe BTPS is one of the first large schemes to reach the finish line.“

“We took a methodical and structured approach, leveraging our in-house expertise to make the process as efficient and cost-effective as possible.”

When writing to members on this complex subject, Brightwell used the communications that were developed as part of the GMPeasy cross-industry initiative. This approach helped to ensure that members received simple, easy to understand communications that were clear and consistent. Only 0.2% of members contacted have been in touch with the Scheme with queries, indicating that the communications were spot on in explaining the issue clearly.

Andy continued: “The minimal reaction from members is testament to the high quality and simple communications we developed in conjunction with other DB schemes and communications consultancy Quietroom, as part of the GMPeasy initiative. These communications are free for all schemes to use and from our experience, they really work. It’s been fantastic to see the pensions industry collaborate in this way for the benefit our members.”

The free GMPe communications toolkit, which was shortlisted for the Pensions Age Communication Award 2024, can be downloaded at www.gmpeasy.co.uk