The current High Sheriff has the final responsibility for nominating a successor, usually four or five years in advance, in discussion with the Leicestershire County Nomination Panel. The Nomination Panel comprises a minimum of seven members, with an independent Chair, currently the Honorary Recorder of Leicester, and is made up of a mix of those connected with the Shrievalty, a representative from the Lieutenancy and independent members from across the City and County with a good gender balance and an appropriate representation across the various different communities.
The panel assist the High Sheriff in identifying suitably experienced and public spirited individuals prepared to take on what is a time-demanding role. The Office of High Sheriff is carried out on a wholly voluntary basis with no part of the expense incurred by the High Sheriff falling on the public purse. Possible candidates are suggested by all panel members to assist the current High Sheriff with their duty to nominate a successor. Meetings are the platform for debate to secure panel approval so that the current High Sheriff can be confident that the selected candidate is best for the role.
It is important to note that there is no bar to any suitable person becoming a High Sheriff, whether it be from social standing, sex, colour, or creed.
In the autumn meeting of the Nominations Panel, the High Sheriff will seek approval for their nomination, and once secured, the High Sheriff informs the Lord-Lieutenant of their choice. Once the Lord-Lieutenant has approved the nomination, and then a candidate has accepted being put forward for nomination, the High Sheriff, with the Under-Sheriff, submits the nomination form to The Chief Clerk to the King’s Remembrancer at The Royal Courts of Justice. The nomination must be submitted by the end of January each year and the name remains undisclosed at this stage.
Once a year, on 12th November or the closest working day to that date, the names of all the High Sheriffs in nomination are read out by the King’s Remembrancer in the Court of the Lady Chief Justice in the Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London. Presiding at that ceremony are the Lady Chief Justice and two other Privy Councillors. So each November, the name of the person nominated to be High Sheriff in 3 years time is revealed. The names of all those nominated are published in the London Gazette and announced in the Court Circular columns of the press and they are known as a High Sheriff in Nomination.
Subsequently, the final selection of the incoming High Sheriff is made annually in March, when the traditional custom of the Sovereign ‘pricking’ the appointee’s name with a bodkin is perpetuated. Eligibility for nomination and appointment of High Sheriffs excludes Peers of Parliament and Members of the House of Commons, and, by extension, Members of the Welsh Assembly, full-time members of the Judiciary including Tribunal Judges, and Officers of the Royal Navy, Army or Royal Air Force on full pay. These provisions reflect the essential requirement that the Office of High Sheriff is a non-political appointment.
Having received a Royal Warrant charging them to 'take the Custody and Charge of the said County', the High Sheriff takes up appointment by the making of a sworn Declaration before a High Court Judge or Justice of the Peace, either using that set out by the Sheriffs Act 1887, or a revised 2020 version of the Declaration as approved by the King’s Remembrancer and with the consent of His Majesty. The appointment is for one year only (as decreed by Richard II in around 1380) and it is customary for the declaration to be made before the end of April each year. For a new appointee not to give prompt effect to His Majesty’s wishes would not be an appropriate interpretation of the Act.