A general point here. The Limitation Act 1981 (Statute of Limitations is a US concept) does not apply to personal records in the way that it applies to other more straightforward contractual relationships. The driver for staff records is the section which deals with personal injury, as modified by case law - the individual has a right to bring an action within 3 years of first becoming aware of the injury. In the case of long term residual damage and disease this could be a very long time, hence the application of "lifetime" retention periods to personal records.
In retention terms, the Limitation Act does not specify that records should or should not be retained. As in so many other cases, retention is a matter of prudence and risk management rather than statute or regulation.
Peter Emmerson
Peter Emmerson
Phone 01582 769842
Fax 01582 761740
E-mail [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Wilton, Deborah (Cultural Services) [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 10 July 2000 11:57
To: [log in to unmask]
Cc: Wright, Beverley (Social Services); Clark, Angela (Social Services); Stallard, Kim (Human Resources)
Subject: Retention scheduling
For the purpose of retention scheduling, Worcestershire County Council abide
with the Statute of Limitations regulation that personnel files are kept for
7 years after employment ceases. However, in updating the retention
schedule for Social Services, we have reached a moot point.
With the current climate of investigation into care homes, often decades
after the alleged offence, our colleagues in Social Services are concerned
that staff files should be retained for a much longer period, some saying 75
years (some cases for compensation seem to be brought even after the alleged
offender has passed away).
We were worried as to the Data Protection implications of this; the rights
of the staff whose files we were keeping. Our staff in the Legal Department
inform us that we would have to justify the difference in retention periods
for staff of different departments (but they don't see that as a huge
problem and certainly don't think Data Protection has anything specific to
say about it, so long as 'further processing' can be proven).
Storage problems would be incurred, but formats other than paper may be
investigated.
This is just a shout for advice really. Have other local authority Record
Offices/records management centres made retention decisions about files of
staff with 'sensitive' jobs?
All help much appreciated. Please reply off list to
[log in to unmask]
Thank you
Deborah Wilton
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