Six custodians have been appointed to a framework agreement accessible by all of the UK’s local government pension schemes (LGPS).

The tender, launched in April by lead authority Norfolk County Council, followed a similar four-year framework for investment consultancy services.

In a statement, the national LGPS framework group said the custodian arrangements would be accessible from mid-November, allowing interested funds to bypass individual tenders if they require a new custodian.

BNP Paribas Securities Services, one of the six companies appointed, said its inclusion would open the door to access the sizable LGPS market.

BNY Mellon, HSBC Securities Services, JP Morgan, Northern Trust and State Street were the other providers selected.

The seven local authorities – Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire and Buckinghamshire county councils, as well as the London boroughs of Hackney and Croydon – said they would next launch a national framework agreement for legal services.

The group said the legal framework would build on the experiences of a previous framework by funds in the south west of the UK, expiring in 2015.

One of the funds involved in the south-west tender, the Environment Agency Pension Fund, said it would join the group to support the new framework, as would Dorset and Scotland’s Lothian.

Lothian previously ran a framework agreement covering several funds, appointing Hermes to provide shareholder engagement services for itself and three other LGPS.