Up-to-date knowledge: The best administrators know lender criteria inside out. They understand the quirks of each submission system and spot potential issues before they cause delays.

They know which lenders are currently offering great service and those which are struggling. Admins pre-empt questions by reviewing bank statements and flagging anything that needs an explanation. That helps cut delays and improve conversions – creating a better experience for your customer and the lender, which helps your business.

Flexibility to manage fluctuating volumes: For growing mortgage advice firms, administrators are key to scaling up quickly.

It’s faster and more cost-efficient to hire and train admins than to recruit new advisers or get trainees qualified, especially against a challenging economic backdrop. Some large brokerages have as many as four administrators supporting each adviser to maintain quality and compliance even when business volumes fluctuate.

Customer contact: After the advice stage, the administrator is often the main point of contact for borrowers. They explain next steps, check documents, chase solicitors and lenders, and provide reassurance when things get stressful.

The best administrators go the extra mile to get a tricky case over the line and calm nervous customers. That level of personal support shapes the overall customer experience and boosts your business’s reputation.

Despite their importance, administrators don’t always receive the recognition they deserve or the support they need.

Too often, they are seen as “back office”, instead of professionals who often power the mortgage process.

That perception can make it harder to attract new talent, even though it can be a rewarding and flexible role with many career paths. With the right support, administrators can move into case management, compliance, team leadership roles or become a mortgage adviser.

Some firms are making a more conscious effort to show their appreciation, from inviting admins to lender events to simple thank-you emails or gifts to help them feel valued.

There are practical things we can do too, from enabling administrators to access lender portals to making sure their voices are heard when (business development managers) BDMs visit the office.

Training and development are also important to help administrators thrive. With the right support, they can progress quickly and become advisers themselves if they want to. But most important is to simply recognise that the administrator role can be high-pressure, with tight timescales and heavy workloads.

Putting in place initiatives to retain your admins, such as managing workloads, encouraging breaks and creating a supportive team culture by asking them how they can improve processes, can go a long way to helping them feel part of the team.

Industry recognition is improving, but there’s more to do, and Pepper Money is leading the way.

We’ve been vocal about the importance of administrators for years. We sponsor administrator awards, support events like the Mortgage Administrator Online Event and back platforms such as The Mortgage Administrator Hub on LinkedIn. This online group provides a growing community where admins can share knowledge, network and learn from each other.

These initiatives not only raise the profile of administrators and foster collaboration, but they also help to build a stronger, better-supported community.

We practice what we preach within our own business, too, enabling administrators to access our mortgage portal so that they can see all updates without having to jump through extra hoops. We train our sales team to always talk to admins as well as brokers, because we know how much they do and how important their feedback is to our business.

We practice the same values internally too: our own administrators are at the heart of our service to brokers, and we invest in their success.

We are proactive about connecting our underwriting and admin teams’ contributions to overall business performance, so that all staff understand the impact of their work, not just those in sales roles. Regular internal awards and feedback sessions mean that our administrators know they are a valuable part of our team.

Pepper also invests heavily in professional development. A dedicated learning and development team delivers in-house courses, while staff have access to external resources, including LinkedIn Learning. Managers are encouraged to give their teams time to step back from day-to-day pressures and build skills that will benefit their career progression. We take colleagues’ well-being seriously too, with a strategy supported by education events, dedicated well-being champions, and employee assistance programs.

Administrators keep the mortgage market moving. When we champion their role and invest in their success, everyone benefits – brokers, lenders, customers and administrators alike.