Records Management guide
3. Retain or destroy information
Good information management and transparency means we must retain or destroy information in accordance with legislation, so we know what information we hold and for how long.
How to destroy information
- Determine if paper or electronic records are no longer needed for business use.
- Confirm they do not need to be retained for legislative reasons.
If you are unsure whether to keep or destroy information that is currently held in a corporate office refer to the Information Asset Register. It includes details about:
- responsibility: Who is responsible for the data
- storage: Where the data is stored
- retention: How long the data should be kept
This applies to all formats, such as: paper documents, electronic files, CDs, DVDs, video tapes, USB sticks and floppy discs etc.
The guide to the Information Asset Register (MS Word, 235KB) can help you understand and use it.
There are separate retention guidelines for schools (PDF, 590KB).
Disposing of paper records
Place paper records in confidential wastepaper bins if they contain personal, sensitive, or confidential data.
Destroy backup copies stored on alternative media such as:
- Video tapes
- CDs
- USB sticks
- Floppy discs
- DVDs
Delete electronic records
Electronic records held on SharePoint, or in other electronic storage areas should be deleted as soon as possible if they are no longer needed for business or legislative purposes.
How to archive information
- Confirm that paper records are no longer needed for current business use but must be retained for legislative reasons.
- Decide which is the most suitable archiving method, either scanning and uploading records to an appropriate SharePoint site or case management system, or archiving the paper copies in offsite storage.
Guidance
See SharePoint pages (Lighthouse) for further guidance on using SharePoint.
For guidance on offsite storage, see archiving paper records.
The following checkboxes are used for accordion drop-downs. When selected, they show content that was visually hidden
Policy
Destruction and disposition policy MS Word, 68KB)
Contact Record Management team
Email: Digitisation@cheshireeast.gov.uk