Norfolk County Council's Pensions Committee has agreed to recruit an Independent Person to join its oversight board, following new national rules governing how local government pension funds must operate.

The requirement comes from the government's 'Fit for the Future' reforms to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), which set out stronger governance standards for pension funds across England and Wales.

The Independent Person will provide specialist advice on investment decisions, governance arrangements, and scheme administration — roles previously carried out by external advisers such as Hymans Robertson. Under the new rules, responsibility for that kind of advice will shift to the LGPS Central Pool, a regional investment body that Norfolk is joining.

The committee agreed to delegate the recruitment process to the Director of the Norfolk Pension Fund, the council's Section 151 Officer, and the Monitoring Officer. The Chair of the Pensions Committee, the Chair of the Pensions Oversight Board, and the Director of the Norfolk Pension Fund will lead the search for a suitably qualified candidate.

The reforms also introduce a new statutory role called the Senior LGPS Officer. The committee heard that Norfolk had prepared for this in 2023 by aligning the Director of the Norfolk Pension Fund's responsibilities with what the role was expected to involve — meaning the transition should be relatively straightforward.

The Norfolk Pension Fund manages retirement savings for thousands of council and public sector workers across the county.