Norfolk County Council is working with three external organisations to manage the complex task of merging the county's eight councils into new unitary authorities ahead of a government-set deadline of 1 April 2028.

The Deputy Leader, Cllr Robin Hunter-Clarke, confirmed at the August cabinet meeting that Grant Thornton has been paid £50,000 for financial support, PS Tax Finance £32,000 for finance advice, and Inner Circle Consulting £280,000 for transition support — a combined total of £362,000 so far.

The spending is drawn from a pooled budget jointly funded by all eight Norfolk councils, using a mixture of government funding and contributions from each authority. The county and district councils are working together through a single officer implementation team, chaired by a Senior Responsible Officer.

The position of Senior Responsible Officer had been held by the council's Chief Executive, but following their recent departure the role is now being fulfilled by the Executive Director of Strategy and Transformation.

Voluntary Joint Committees — one for each new council area — have already begun meeting ahead of formal committees being established under any government Structural Changes Order.

Cllr Ian Mackie raised concerns at the meeting about whether the administration's decision not to participate in member LGR committees, combined with the loss of the Chief Executive, posed risks to hitting the 2028 deadline. The Deputy Leader pointed to the published Corporate Risk Register for a full progress update, and said that collaborative working with district councils was ongoing across a number of shared workstreams.