What to keep: Home Office retention and disposal standards
Updated 20 October 2023
© Crown copyright 2023
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-office-retention-and-disposal-standards/what-to-keep-home-office-guide-to-managing-information
1. Overview
This schema details how long all Home Office units, including Migration and Borders, HM Passport Office and General Register Office, will keep its information. It is recommended that all arms length and non departmental bodies follow these instructions.
This schema relates to all corporate information held by the department. A separate schema covers operational information.
It helps clarify what information should be kept for business, legislative and historical reasons as well as indicating when it should be deleted.
There is a standard approach of the following periods:
- 2 years – destroy
- 5 years – review/destroy
- 7 years – review/destroy
- 15 years – review/destroy
- 100 years from birth or 7 years after the closure of the file, whichever is longer, then destroy
A blanket moratorium to prevent the destruction of all Home Office business information, including all operational records and case files, was introduced in 2015 as a result of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).
Although the requirement to preserve information for IICSA no longer exists, the mechanisms to prevent the destruction of information will remain until work to replace them with targeted moratoria has concluded.
2. Corporate
2.1 Policy, governance and development
| What to keep | Where to keep it | Who should save it | When it should be deleted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Policy drafts for comment | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | originator | when superseded |
| Policy drafts of significant changes in approach: major | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | originator | 15 years review |
| Policy drafts of significant changes in approach: minor | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | originator | 7 years destroy |
| Final policy versions: major | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | originator | 15 years review |
| Final policy versions: minor | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | originator | 7 years destroy |
| Board record sets (mtgs/papers): major | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | originator | 15 years review |
| Board record sets (mtgs/papers): minor | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | originator | 7 years destroy |
| Board admin | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | originator | destroy after 5 years |
2.2 Information requests
| What to keep | Where to keep it | Who should save it | When it should be deleted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Responses to information request under freedom of information (FOI) investigated by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | FOI lead/team | destroy after 5 years record closed |
| Responses to information request under FOI: routine leading to precedent | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | FOI lead/team | destroy after 5 years record closed |
| Responses to routine FOI requests | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | FOI lead/team | destroy after 5 years record closed |
| Responses to routine subject access requests (SAR) | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | FOI lead/team | destroy after 2 years record closed |
| Responses to routine environmental information requests | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | FOI lead/team | destroy after 5 years record closed |
| Responses to inquiries: e-Discovery Searches | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | FOI lead/team | destroy 7 years after end of inquiry |
| Responses to inquiries: Nuix searches | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | FOI lead/team | destroy 7 years after end of inquiry |
2.3 Ministerial business
| What to keep | Where to keep it | Who should save it | When it should be deleted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parliamentary questions (replies) | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | originator | destroy after 5 years |
| Ministerial correspondence | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | originator and recipient | destroy after 5 years |
| Briefings for ministerial visits/visitors | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | originator and recipient | destroy after 5 years |
| Minister notebooks | Private Office | Private Office | review at 15 years |
| Submissions: major | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | originator and recipient | 15 years review |
| Submissions: minor | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | originator and recipient | 5 years destroy |
| Policy decisions | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | originator and recipient | review 15 years |
2.4 Projects and research
| What to keep | Where to keep it | Who should save it | When it should be deleted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Large scale (gateway) projects: closed | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | originator | review at 15 years |
| Large scale projects: rejected | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | originator | review at 15 years |
| Test management/evidence (large project) | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | originator | destory after 7 years |
| Test management/evidence (small project) | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | originator | destory after 5 years |
| Routine projects/committees/groups | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | originator | destroy 7 years after record closed |
| High profile research/reports | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | originator | review at 15 years |
2.5 Stakeholder management
| What to keep | Where to keep it | Who should save it | When it should be deleted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dealing with the media and public: press releases, press conferences, correspondence | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | originator | destroy 5 years after record closed |
| Prep work for publications | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | originator | destroy after 5 years |
| Consultations | Accredited corporate storage/Registered Paper File | originator | destroy after 5 years |
| Other stakeholder correspondence | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | originator | destroy after 5 years |
2.6 Administration
| What to keep | Where to keep it | Who should save it | When it should be deleted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Directorate mgt information: risk registers, asset registers, staff resource registers | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | originator | destroy 5 years after record closed |
| Directorate mgt information: meetings, events, etc | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | originator | when no longer required or superseded but no longer than 5 years |
| All process guides | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | originator | review at 7 years |
| All building architectural, structural reports, surveys plans, inspections, maps and drawings, certificates, photographic, legal, contracts etc | originator | covered under Ministry of Justice schema as a shared service | |
| All maintenance logs, reports, contractor | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | originator | review at 15 years |
| Finance (not relating to building, fraud, theft) | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | originator | destroy at 7 years |
| Finance (building, fraud, theft) | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | originator | review at 15 years |
| Contracts (not related to building) | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | review at 7 years | |
| All audit | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | originator | destroy at 7 years |
| HR records | accredited corporate storage/registered paper file | originator | subject aged 100 years |
| Litigation | SharePoint (if unit mapped to) or corporate drive | originator | destroy at 7 years |
| Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIA) | accredited corporate storage | originator | destroy at 7 years after the processing has ceased |
This schema has been created or is managed by the Home Office Knowledge & Information Management Unit.
Effective date: 1 February 2016
Last review date: 6 October 2023
Next review date: 6 October 2024
Approved by: KIM Community Review Group
Audience: all staff and the public