Pension office sell-off hailed as boost to economy
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THE sale of a Caithness based pensions firm will result in more quality jobs being created in the county and is a major opportunity to promote the county as a vibrant place to do business, according to far north MP John Thurso.
He hailed the news that Aon Hewitt has bought the business from Babcock International Group with the intention of expanding its operation in the county and creating new employment.
The 33 who work in the pensions office at Forss business park service pension schemes for around 80,000 present and past workers in the nuclear industry throughout the UK.?Its core business is public sector final salary schemes but in the last five years, it has won contracts in the private sector.
John Thurso believes the pensions office can play a vital role in the efforts to regenerate the far north post-Dounreay.
He believes the sale should be used as a flagship to attract other businesses to the area.
“Aon Hewitt are a major player in the administration of pensions and they see the Caithness office as a major part in its drive into the UK market,” he said.
“They are going to build and grow the Caithness operation and it is helping achieve what we’ve been trying to do for over a decade which is to turn the office from servicing the nuclear industry to a contract provider which is going to get into a lot of other industries.”
He added: “The regeneration strategy has always envisaged a strand of workers coming out of Dounreay becoming high-quality administration people working in financial services.
“Having an expanding pensions operation at Forss acts as a great example to us as we look to other similar businesses coming to Caithness.”
The move comes only two years after Aon Hewitt partnered with Babcock to finance a growth in the pensions business.
Aon Hewitt UK chief executive Andy Cox said that it is acquiring an exceptional team, with high standards and well-developed expertise.
“The development and growth of the Forss business over the next three years is a key part of our strategy to enter and build our public sector pensions business.
“As market leaders in pensions administration, we have expressed our desire to expand our presence in the public sector market and this represents an ideal opportunity to further that ambition.
“We are committed to growing the business in Caithness over the coming years.”
Babcock’s managing director Roger Hardy said it is looking to create further opportunities for economic growth in the far north after Dounreay has been cleared in 2023.
“I very much welcome Aon Hewitt’s commitment to the pensions administration office at Forss and its plans to grow the business.
“We are working now with our partners to deliver more opportunities like this for other highly-skilled assets in Caithness given the talent pool that exists in our site licence company at Dounreay.
“We want to migrate these skills into new markets and bring more global companies like Aon Hewitt to Caithness to help build an economic future beyond Dounreay and so ensure the site’s lasting legacy is one of enterprise, investment and jobs.”
The terms of the sale, which was sealed on Wednesday, have not been disclosed.
