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Records retention schedule - business information

First published

12 Oct 2026

Last updated

12 Oct 2026

Records retention schedule - business information

Record topic Record name Description of records Record type Trigger point Retention period Disposal action
Accounting and Finance Banking & Cash management Banking transactions, BACS authorisations, direct debits, credit cards, charges and direct credits. Cash management. Legal Requirement Date of last action 7 years Confidential destruction of electronic records
Accounting and Finance Budget Management   Legal Requirement Date of last action 7 years Confidential destruction of electronic records
Accounting and Finance Expenditure   Legal Requirement Date of last action 7 years Confidential destruction of electronic records
Accounting and Finance Purchase orders   Legal Requirement Date of last action 7 years Confidential destruction of electronic records
Accounting and Finance Records of financial transactions Invoices, receipts, statements, staff/witness expense claims, cashier books Legal Requirement Date of last action 7 years Confidential destruction of electronic records
Administration Business as usual documentation General business-as-usual records examples include: communications with staff & team briefings, notes from meetings which are not officially minuted such as team meetings and 1-to-1s, evaluation and feedback data, general emails and communications, including Viva Engage.  Business need Date of last action 2 years Confidential destruction of electronic records
Administration Business plans and strategy This includes business plans, plus strategies such as DFS. Corporate Memory When superseded 5 years Review - destroy or archive
Administration Executive meeting governance Minutes, terms of reference, agendas and papers related to board / executive meetings. This includes: the Strategic board, Leadership Board, Audit and Risk Committee Business need Date of last action 5 years Review - destroy or archive
Administration All other meeting governance Minutes, terms of reference, agendas and papers related to all other meetings which are not executive/board level. This includes meetings such as IAG, PSEC and OSG.  Business need Date of last action 5 years Confidential destruction of electronic records
Administration Organisational charts, team roles & responsibilities Charts and diagrams of team structures, team responsibilities and work allocation, rotas  Corporate Memory When superseded 5 years Review - destroy or archive
Administration Processes and procedures SOPs, processes, procedures, desk instructions, templates, guides, training material Business need When superseded 5 years Review - destroy or archive
Administration Published policies and guidance Including library materials and information on Knowledge Bank Business need When superseded 5 years Review - destroy or archive
Audit and Risk Accreditation Any risk management accreditation documents Business need Date of last action 10 years Review - destroy or archive
Audit and Risk Audit reports Example: This includes all audits, such as health and safety quarterly and annual audits, and production audits. Business need Date of report 7 years Confidential destruction of electronic records
Audit and Risk Business continuity planning Business continuity & Disaster Recovery plans. Staff details for BCP Business need When superseded 5 years Review - destroy or archive
Audit and Risk Risk assessments   Business need Date of report 5 years Confidential destruction of electronic records
Audit and Risk Risk registers Risk registers. This also includes note of Fire and first aid volunteers, drills, outcomes Business need Date of last action 5 years Review - destroy or archive
Contractual records Contract management Change requests and controls Business need Date of last action 7 years Confidential destruction of electronic records
Contractual records Contracts Contracts, tenders and award documentation. Includes SLAs Business need Date of event 7 years Confidential destruction of electronic records
Contractual records Unsuccessful tenders Letters of rejection and other correspondence Business need Date of event 7 years Confidential destruction of electronic records
Correspondence Complaints log   Business need Date of case closure 2 years Confidential destruction of electronic records
Correspondence Requests for information Ministerial correspondence, enquiries, PQs and briefings Business need Date of publication 4 years Confidential destruction of electronic records
Enquiry Point Call recordings   Business need Date of case closure 6 months Confidential destruction of electronic records
Health & Safety Accident and incident reporting Reports of accidents As Evidence Date of event 10 years Confidential destruction of electronic records
HR Absence information Annual leave, flexi leave, sickness, maternity/paternity leave. Includes absence and return to work forms.  Legal Requirement Date of event 6 years Confidential destruction of electronic records
HR Candidate Reserve List Candidate information kept by consent Business need Date of event 1 year Confidential destruction of electronic records
HR Disciplinary/Grievance Information   Legal Requirement End of contract of employment 6 years Confidential destruction of electronic records
HR Employee pension information   Legal Requirement End of contract of employment 99 years Confidential destruction of electronic records
HR Employee personnel files Includes data on HR systems and Vicarious Trauma/Occupational Health Information Legal Requirement End of contract of employment 6 years Confidential destruction of electronic records
HR Employee Terms & Conditions including Offers, Contracts & Variations   Legal Requirement End of contract of employment 6 years Confidential destruction of electronic records
HR Flexi Information (clock cards)   Legal Requirement Date of event 2 years Confidential destruction of electronic records
HR Pay information Excluding pension information Legal Requirement Date of creation 6 years Confidential destruction of electronic records
HR Performance management PAR forms & probation forms. Any performance improvement plans. Legal Requirement End of contract of employment 6 years Confidential destruction of electronic records
HR Pre-recruitment records Recruitment process documentations including authorisations, job descriptions and adverts Legal Requirement Date of event 2 years Confidential destruction of electronic records
HR Recruitment & Job application records Applications, interview records and documentation for all interviewed candidates Legal Requirement Date of event 1 year Anonymisation and retain
HR Recruitment & Job application records (anonymised) Applications, interview records and documentation for all interviewed candidates which have been anonymised Legal Requirement Date of anonymisation 1 year Confidential destruction of electronic records
HR Right to work documents   Legal Requirement End of contract of employment 3 years Confidential destruction of electronic records
HR Reporting Relating to Employees Including staff in post and any related HR reports Legal Requirement When superseded 6 years Anonymisation and retain
HR Unpaid absence and Occupational Health Information   Legal Requirement End of contract of employment 99 years Confidential destruction of electronic records
HR Whistleblowing Information   Legal Requirement Date of decision 6 months Confidential destruction of electronic records
Information Management  Data sharing agreements & MOUs   Business need When superseded 5 years Review - destroy or archive
Information Management  DPIAs   Business need Lifetime of activity 2 years Confidential destruction of electronic records
Information Management  Data Subject Requests or Freedom of Information Requests FOI, SAR and Data application requests Business need Date of publication 2 years Review - destroy or archive
Information Management  Internal investigations Breach and security reports and supporting documentation, intelligence reports  Business need Date of report 5 years Review - destroy or archive
Information Management  Records disposal/destruction certificates   Business need Date of event 2 years Archive electronic record
Information Management  Records management information Any electronic and physical records database and disposals information Business need When superseded 5 years Review - destroy or archive
ISD IT Portal tickets and incidents Tickets raised on issues and incidents to do with IT systems Business need Date of case closure 6 months Confidential destruction of electronic records
ISD System design, development and management Application code and documentation relating to the development of software. Including requirements, specifications and quality assurance. Documentation relating to infrastructure, configuration and maintenance. Includes licences, patching and SLAs Business need Date of decommissioning 2 years Review - destroy or archive
ISD System Logs Information about the performance and interactions on systems generated by operating systems, application middleware, system components and applications Business need Date of creation 7 years Confidential destruction of electronic records
ISD User Logs User activity logs Business need Date of creation 1 year Confidential destruction of electronic records
Learning & Development Training records   Business need End of contract of employment 1 year Confidential destruction of electronic records
Media Connect and external website Includes news releases on the COPFS website, plus internal news and updates on Connect Business need Date of publication 1 year Review - destroy or archive
Project Management Project/programme records Issue & decision logs, presentations, planning, reports, project updates, system design and developments Business need Date of project completion 2 years Review - destroy or archive

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