Every business, of every type, needs to retain records, but the fine detail of how long you should archive documents for can vary wildly depending on your line of work - and the legal requirements are spread across multiple different pieces of legislation that range from an indefinitely short period of time (for personal data) to an indefinitely long one (for things corporate identities). 

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It’s a confusing rabbit hole to head down, very much in the Alice and Wonderland sense, and you can find yourself approaching Hatter states of focus and coherence if you start trying to cross-reference the various statutes and guidance without a clear knowledge of where you sit. The basic rule is don’t keep personal information for any longer than you (provably) need it, and keep business information for at least three years - but after that, things start getting complicated. We’re here to make it a bit more understandable.

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On this page you can find some general guidelines for how long businesses need to archive documents for, broken down by industry - but this is something where you need to be scrupulously compliant, so be sure to get confirmation from a legal professional that you’re including everything relevant in your records retention policy.

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Guidance For All Businesses

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The basic requirements for all businesses in the UK are laid out by the Companies Act 2006, the Data Protection Act 2018 & UK GDPR. These are the bread-and-butter requirements for accountants and CPAs who produce, validate and audit them - we have a separate guide on what to look for in a document management system for CPAs. 

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• A private company needs to retain accounting records for at least three years from the date they were created
• A public company (plc) needs to retain its accounting records for at least six years from the date they were created
• Finance records need to be retained for six years after the end of the financial year, or until the date that any enquiry completes if it’s later
• VAT records need to be retained for six years
• Board meeting minutes need to be retained for ten years
• Payroll records need to be preserved for three years
• Working time records need to be retained for two years

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There are separate guidelines for how long to keep documents about things like disposal of business assets or other capital gains or losses. 

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Ranged against this are the requirements of GDPR in the UK and the EU, and the California Consumer Privacy Act in the USA, which are broadly united in stating that you can’t hold on to people’s personal information for any longer than necessary. There is no fixed definition of “neccessary”, so each business needs to decide an appropriate duration and document it a part of its retention policy. That needs to be paired with a clear data retention schedule, with processes and reminders to ensure that it’s followed.

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In addition to these, there is more specific guidance on how long you should archive documents for based on what business you’re in. We’ve rounded up some examples from some of the industries we work with regularly. 

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Financial Advice Firms

The rules for financial advice are laid out by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK and the North American Security Administrators Association in the USA. 

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• Financial promotions relating to pension transfers, pension conversions, pension opt-outs, or FSAVCs must be kept indefinitely 
• Records pertaining to life policies, occupational pension schemes, SSAS, personal pension schemes, or stakeholder pension schemes must be kept for a minimum of six years
• Records associated with MiFID or equivalent third-country business have to be kept for five years
• Any other financial promotion must be retained for at least three years
• For pension schemes, certain records must be kept for at least six years, while others require retention for "a much longer period" or "as long as they remain relevant and are needed for the scheme to operate"
• General investment adviser records must be maintained for five years 
• Crucially, records must also be kept for a period of five years after a firm has terminated or withdrawn its registration

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Construction Firms

Document archiving requirements for construction firms varies depending on the type of work carried out, but all of them are bound by the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015). Those firms handling hazardous substances must also conform to the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH). Most of the guidelines are listed by the Health and Safety Executive.

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• Files regarding individual construction projects need to be retained for at least six years, and it’s sensible to keep them for 15 years to ensure you’re covered for any tort claims 
• As a rule of (bruised) thumb, health and safety records have to be kept for five years
• Health surveillance records which are carried out to monitor exposure to dangerous substances should be stored for a minimum of 40 years if it refers to the health of specific employees, and five years in all other cases
• Medical records for individual workers must be handled by an occupational health professional, and retained for “as long as is necessary”. In many cases that will be the duration of the worker’s employment, and no longer, but records should not be held even for current workers if there is no clear reason to.

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Find out more about the best document management tools for construction firms. 

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Law Firms

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The general rule of thumb for law firms is that documents should be retained for at least six years - although there are several files that can only be kept for much shorter spaces of time. This, once again is something you should take legal advice on, which should be easy because you’re a law firm.

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• Most files should be retained for six years
• Some documents need to be retained for 15 years, including files related to the following:
  
  • Residential and commercial property work
  • Commercial transactions
  • Matrimonial matters
  • Probate
  • Company winding-up cases
• Other files should be kept for longer than 15 years
  
  • Change of name
  • Company formation
  • Court of Protection
  • Declaration of trust
  • Patents/intellectual property matters
  • Pension schemes
• Wills and power of attorney documents need to be retained for at least the lifespan of the person they refer to, and at least seven years after that

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We’ve got a separate article on how to pick a document management system for law firms. 

Find out more about records retention in our guide to document management systems, and if you’d like to talk about how a DMS can help your business then you can set up a call with one of our industry specialists. Got a more general question? Drop us a line.