Guidance

Retention schedule for data processed by DfE

Guidance to help users identify the retention periods for data processed by the Department for Education (DfE).

• From: Department for Education
• Published: 2 December 2025
• Last updated: 7 September 2026
  Show all updates

  1. 7 September 2026

     Added retention periods for records relating to applications for training or vacancies; exemptions from the early years foundation stage statutory framework; teacher recruitment and retention, used to inform policy development, support analysis and produce national statistics; online forms on Department for Education (DfE) websites; the music hubs programme; and due diligence checks for roles to support DfE, such as experts or speakers.

  2. 9 June 2026

     Updated retention periods for records relating to breaches; census and data collections; Student Loan Company data; policy development and service improvements – evidence gathering through user research; specific research projects; and statistics

  3. 26 February 2026

     Added retention periods for Intercountry adoption cases, Get Information About Schools (GIAS), Student Load Company data extracts, External users of DfE’s Microsoft365 environment, Attendance at breakfast clubs, Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA), Pseudonymised datasets deposited on Office for National Statistics (ONS) and UK Data Service (UKDS) (University of Essex), Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA) accreditations, and referrals relating to teacher misconduct.

  4. 2 December 2025

     First published.

Applies to England

Documents

DfE retention schedule

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Details

How DfE manages the retention of information in line with business requirements and legal obligations.