Information and Records Management Guidance
9a. Retention and Disposal
What does this guide cover?
Once you have decided that a record needs to be kept, you should also decide how long it needs to be
kept for. This is not a standard decision. Some records may only need to be kept for a few months,
whereas others are kept for decades or perhaps permanently. In some cases the length of retention is
specified in legislation. In others there may be existing statutory or operational guidelines which tell you
how long to keep a record. If you are creating new types or records, there may be no existing retention
guidelines.
Why should I have retention periods for records?
Keeping records takes up space, whether physical or digital. This in turn has cost implications for the
University. Plus the space could be used for something more beneficial. So if records are no longer
needed, it makes sense to dispose of them. By disposing of the records you no longer need, you will
also be more likely to find the records that you do need.
Not only is it good practice to dispose of records when they are no longer needed, it is also a legal
requirement under the Data Protection Act 1998. Personal data should only be kept for as long as it is
needed for the purpose it was collected. So keeping personal data indefinitely ‘just in case’ could mean
that the University is in breach of the Act.
How long should I keep records?
Legislation
In some cases there will be legislation which dictates how long records need to be retained for. The
University must ensure that it complies with these retention periods. In some cases this will involve
retaining records for 40 years or longer. Therefore records have to be kept in an accessible format for
the time period dictated.
Funding Councils
Some funding councils will have specific requirements relating to how long research records are
retained for. You should check with your funding council for guidance. You can also read the JISC
guidance on managing research records http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/partnerships/records-retentionhe/managing-research-records
Information and Records Guidance 9 Retention and Disposal v2.1
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If there is no legislative/statutory requirement to retain records you should consider the operational
requirements of your area/the University. Ask yourself the following questions:
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What are the records needed for?
What do they provide evidence of?
Will the records be required in the future for reference?
Are the records required for any other purpose i.e. REF/ELIR/Departmental Review? Are there
timescales associated with these exercises?
If you were to dispose of the information would there be any negative implications for your
department and/or the University?
Do the records form part of the ‘corporate memory’?
By answering these questions you should start to get an idea as to how the importance/value of the
records in question. At the very least it should help you
determine if the records should be kept for the short, medium or
The Records Centre
long term. Make sure that you record any decisions you make
Any records that need to be retained
regarding retention. This will help inform future decisions.
for more than 1 year, and are no
Retention Schedules
longer added or referred to, can be
stored in the University Records
At the moment the University does not have bespoke records
Centre. Please see the Records
retention schedules which would set out how long the University
Centre SharePoint page or email
retains different types of records for. However, these will be
[email protected]
developed by the Records Management section (in conjunction
for more information.
with relevant areas) over time.
In the meantime the University advises, like many other Higher
Education Institutions, that if you require guidance on how long to retain records you can refer to the
JISC Infonet retention schedule for Higher Education Institutions
http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/partnerships/records-retention-he/hei-rrs-pla or contact [email protected]
How should I dispose of records?
Once a record reaches the end of its retention period it should be reviewed. Where appropriate records
should be disposed of. This is done regardless of whether they are digital or paper based records
Hard copy


Contains confidential/person information – destroy following guidance from Estates regarding
disposal of confidential paper records
No confidential/personal information – recycle in normal paper bins
Digital records

Deleted at the end of retention period. ALL relevant electronic records should be deleted – do
not retain a copy ‘just in case’.
Records held in the Records Centre will be reviewed by the depositors at the end of their set retention
period. Records can either be kept for a further year or disposed of. In most cases this will mean
destruction. Some records will be transferred to the Archives for permanent storage.
If records are to be retained permanently then these should be transferred to the University Archives
as early as possible to ensure that they are properly managed and curated. If the University Archives
do not consider the records to be of archival value but the department feels that they should be
retained permanently then consideration will have to be given by individual departments as to how and
where these are held.