Records Management - The following Acts of Parliament have provisions that are relevant to record keeping and records disposal:
In its day to day business the University faces exposure to environmental, employment, tax, commercial and other regulatory constraints that impact on its record-keeping practice, and which pose a risk of potential litigation. Since the advent of the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000 the risk becomes marked.
One of the biggest difficulties the University has in achieving compliance with legal and regulatory constraints is the lack of clarity in respect of precisely just what records it is that legislation itself is actually referring to - a considerable amount of legal research is often required to fully manage this aspect.
Nevertheless a general awareness of relevant legislation, and its relationship to University records and record keeping, goes a considerable way to reducing the risk that comes with legal compliance - and it is this that this guidance looks to address.
Please note that the list is not exhaustive, nor should the document be read as comprising a University Records Retention Schedule.
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and its associated Regulations
Statutory minimum retention periods for records relating to:- Risk assessment
(review + 3 years)
- Monitoring of
working environments (creation + 40 years)
- Control of and
use of hazardous substances (file closure + 40 years)
- Monitoring of
employees’ health (creation + 40 years)
- Accident books
(completion of book + 3 years)
- Accident/dangerous
occurrence report forms (date of occurrence + 3 years)
- Categorizing and
disposal of waste (creation + 3 years)
The Sex Discrimination Acts 1975 and 1986 - For records relating to:
- Advertising of
vacancies (filling of vacancy + 6 months)
- Job applications:
- successful
(transfer to staff personnel file)
- unsuccessful
(filling of vacancy + 6 months)
- successful
(transfer to staff personnel file)
The Race Relations Act 1976:
- Advertising of
vacancies (filling of vacancy + 6 months)
- Job applications:
- Successful
(transfer to staff personnel file)
- Unsuccessful
(filling of vacancy + 6 months)
- Successful
(transfer to staff personnel file)
- Ethnic monitoring questionnaire/reports (creation + 5 years)
The Limitation Act 1980:
Recommends minimum retention periods for some financial records,
contracts, product liability, some court actions, and personnel records:
- Complaints (date
of settlement + 6 years)
- Appeals (date
of settlement + 6 years)
- Disciplinary
hearings against staff (date of settlement + 6 years unless merged with staff
personnel file)
- Staff personnel
files (termination of employment + 6 years)
- Reporting and
investigation of accidents and dangerous occurrences (date of accident + 40
years)
- Procurement records
(e.g. tenders):
- successful:
termination of supply contract + 6 years
- unsuccessful:
creation + 1 year
- successful:
termination of supply contract + 6 years
- Lettings' of
student accommodation (termination of agreement + 6 years)
- Hiring out of
conference facilities (termination of agreement + 6 years)
- Private hire agreements
(termination of agreement + 6 years)
- Insurance policies
(termination of policy + 6 years)
- Insurance claims
(date of settlement + 6 years)
- Conduct of testing,
maintenance and statutory inspections and any necessary action (life of plant/equipment
+ 6 years)
- Maintenance schedules
(creation + 2 years)
- Inspection certificates
(creation + 6 years)
- Repair reports
(life of plant/equipment + 6 years)
- Payroll payments
(creation + 6 years)
- Share certificates
(disposal of shares + 6 years)
- Investment portfolio
reports (permanent)
- Control of disclosure
of intellectual property (disclosure + 6 years)
- Administration
of intellectual property agreements (termination of agreement + 6 years)
- Intellectual
property agreements (termination of agreement + 6 years)
- Claims of infringement
of intellectual property rights (date of settlement + 6 years)
The Companies Acts 1985 and 1989
Stipulates a statutory minimum retention period for:
- Company accounts
(creation + 6 years)
- Records of dissolved companies (dissolution + 10 years)
The Financial Services Act 1986
Stipulates a statutory minimum retention period for:
- Salary advices (current financial year + 3 years)
The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
Requires clear knowledge of the ownership of copyright in records before any outside person may copy any part of the record. In respect of electronic records the software itself as well as the content of the records may be subject to copyright and, in some cases, the two may be owned by different parties.
The Value Added Tax Act 1994
Stipulates a statutory minimum retention period for:
- Purchase orders
(creation + 6 years)
- Delivery and
goods received notes (creation + 6 years)
- Income and expenditure
accounts (creation + 6 years)
- Management of
bank accounts (creation + 6 years)
- Assessment of
tax liabilities (current tax year + 6 years)
- Submission of tax returns (current tax year + 6 years)
The Disability Discrimination Act 1995
Recommends minimum retention periods for records relating to:
- Advertising of
vacancies (from filling of vacancy + 6 months)
- Job applications:
- successful
(transfer to staff personnel file)
- unsuccessful (filling of vacancy + 6 months)
- successful
(transfer to staff personnel file)
The Civil Evidence Act 1995
The Act resolves some of the problems of the legal admissibility of evidence generated by or held on computers. It shifts the argument away from admissibility itself to the evidential value or weight of evidence possessed by a record. A court will still need to be satisfied however as to the authenticity of the record, and procedures need to be in place to prove this.
The Electronic Communications Act 2000
Provides for the legal recognition of electronic signatures and the process under which they are generated, communicated or verified.
The Data Protection Act 1998 and Freedom of Information Act 2000
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 augments the Data Protection
Act 1998.
- The Data Protection
Act gives individuals the right of access to personal information held about
them.
- The Freedom of
Information Act gives access to all other information and is more wide-ranging.
Together the two acts allow access to virtually all records held by the University and consequently have far-reaching implications for all aspects of records creation, maintenance, processing and disposal.