Retention and Disposal Policy
Retention and Disposal Policy
1. Purpose
1.1 The purpose of this policy is to detail the procedures for the retention and
disposal of information to ensure that we carry this out consistently and that we
fully document any actions taken. Unless otherwise specified the retention and
disposal policy refers to both hard and soft copy documents.
2. Review
2.1 Review is the examination of closed records to determine whether they should
be destroyed, retained for a further period or transferred to an archive for
permanent preservation.
3.1 Records should be kept for as long as they are needed to meet the operational
needs of the Authority, together with legal and regulatory requirements. We
have assessed our records to:
• Determine their value as a source of information about the Authority, its
operations, relationships and environment
• Assess their importance as evidence of business activities and decisions
• Establish whether there are any legal or regulatory retention requirements
(including: Public Records Act 1958, Data Protection Act 1998, the
Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Limitation Act 1980, the General Data
Protection Regulation 2018).
3.2 Where records are likely to have a historical value, or are worthy of permanent
preservation, we will transfer them to the National Archives after 25 years.
4. Disposal schedule
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3. Review – see 2 above.
4.3 Records can be destroyed in the following ways:
Destruction
• Non-sensitive information – can be placed in a normal rubbish bin
• Confidential information – cross cut shredded and pulped or burnt
• Highly Confidential information – cross cut shredded and pulped or burnt
• Electronic equipment containing information - destroyed using killdisc and
for individual folders, they will be permanently deleted from the system.
4.4 Destruction of electronic records should render them non-recoverable even
using forensic data recovery techniques.
Archival transfer
4.5 This is the physical transfer of physical records to a permanent custody at the
National Archives Office.
5. Sharing of information
5.1 Duplicate records should be destroyed. Where information has been regularly
shared between business areas, only the original records should be retained in
accordance with the guidelines in section 2 above. Care should be taken that
seemingly duplicate records have not been annotated.
5.2 Where we share information with other bodies, we will ensure that they have
adequate procedures for records to ensure that the information is managed in
accordance with the Authority’s policies, relevant legislation and regulatory
guidance.
5.3 Where relevant to do so we will carry out a data privacy impact assessment and
update our privacy notices to reflect data sharing.
6. An audit trail
6.1 You do not need to document the disposal of records which have been listed on
the records retention schedule. Documents disposed of outwith the schedule
either by being disposed of earlier or kept for longer than listed will need to be
recorded for audit purposes.
6.2 This will provide an audit trail for any inspections conducted by the Information
Commissioner and will aid in addressing Freedom of Information requests,
where we no longer hold the material.
7. Monitoring
7.1 Responsibility for monitoring the disposal policy rests with the Director of
Governance and Operations. The policy will be reviewed annually or more
often is required.
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8. Disposal schedule – Governance and Operations: Finance Records
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9. Disposal schedule – Governance and Operations: Human Resource Records
Statutory Sick Pay 3 years after the end of The Statutory Sick Pay
records, calculations, the tax year to which they (General) Regulations
certificates, self- relate 1982
certificates (SI 1982/894) as
amended
Employee Files – General Records relating to 2 years from date on The Working Time Director of Governance
Exceptions working time which they were made Regulations 1998 (SI and Operations
1998/1833)
Accident books, accident 3 years after the date of The Reporting of Injuries,
records/reports the last entry Diseases and Dangerous
Occurrences Regulations
1995 (RIDDOR)
(SI 1995/3163) as
amended.
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10. Disposal schedule – Governance and Operations: Corporate Governance
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Scrutiny committee terms Until superseded
of reference
Private sessions Permanently
Corporate and Business Formal 5 years Director of Governance
Planning policies/documents and Operations
Background to the work 1 year
Complaints about the Policy Statements and Until superseded and We work in line with the Director of Governance
Authority or its Board guidance. 2 years TNA generic guidance: and Operations
Background papers Retention Scheduling 7:
Reports on particular 3 years Complaints Records
complaints or categories
of complaints
Statistical reports 5 years
Register of complaints 10 years
Contracts Policy Until superseded We work in line with TNA Director of Governance
Initial proposal –end user 6 years, regularly generic guidance: and Operations
requirement, list of updated, 1 year from date Retention Scheduling 5:
approved suppliers, of last paper, destroy Contractual Records
statements of interest, when specification
draft specification, agreed agreed, 6 years from end
specification, evaluation of contract, 6 years from
criteria and invitation to end of contract and 6
tender years from end of contract
Tendering- unsuccessful 1 year after date of last
documents, successful paper, 6 years from award
documents, background of contract, 1 year after
information, interview date of last paper, 1 year
panel documentation, from end of contract, 1
commissioning letter, year from end of contract,
signed contract 1 year from end of
contract and 6 years from
end of contract
Contract operation and 2 years from end of
monitoring – report from contract, 2 years from end
contractors, schedule of of contract, 16 years, 2
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works, bills of quantity, years from end of
surveys and inspections, contract, 6 years from end
records of complaints, of contract, 6 years from
disputes over payment, end of contract and 6
final accounts and years from end of contract
minutes and papers of
meetings
Amendments to contracts 6 years from end of
– changes to contract
requirements, forms of
variation and extensions
to contract
Department of Health Quarterly accountability 5 years Director of Governance
meetings and Operations
Parliamentary Questions 7 years
Forms and Templates Until superseded Director of Governance
and Operations
General correspondence 2 years Director of Governance
including emails and Operations
Governance Accounting officer papers 6 years Director of Governance
Risk management 6 years and Operations
Audit 6 years
Diversity 6 years
Reference documents 6 years
Governments 6 years
Health and safety Reporting injuries, 3 years Director of Governance
diseases and dangerous and Operations
occurrences
Accident book 3 years from last date of
entry
Risk assessments 40 years
Safe operation procedures 40 years
and safe systems of work
Effectiveness of controls 40 years
(e.g. monitoring noise
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levels and light)
Maintenance of controls 40 years
and other machinery
Training 40 years
Safety inspections & 40 years
checks
Information policy and Policies until superseded We work in line with TNA Director of Governance
legislation FOI requests: background 2 years and 10 years generic guidance: and Operations
documents, final versions Retention Scheduling 9:
released Information management
SAR Requests 3 years for background records
documents, 3 years for
final documents – unless
the requests relate to an
only going matter such as
a special investigation or
PR in which case they will
be retained in line with the
retention schedule for that
area.
Disposal schedule, Permanently, 10 years
background papers
Documents destroyed list 10 years
Training records 5 years
ICT All ICT documents 6 years or until Director of Governance
superceded. and Operations
ICT helpdesk Requests submitted 2 years Director of Governance
through the ICT helpdesk and Operations
Office administration Policies and procedures 5 years Director of Governance
Internal Meeting Minutes 5 years and Operations
Records Management Policies Until superseded We work in line with TNA Director of Governance
generic guidance: and Operations
Retention Scheduling 9:
Information management
records
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11. Disposal schedule – Scrutiny and Quality – Appointments
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13. Disposal schedule – Standards and Policy – Accredited Registers
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14. Disposal schedule – Standards and Policy – Communications, Policy and Research
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Version Control
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