Specifically, all periods under the Limitation Act start to run from the
date of the 'cause of action' i.e. the precise date at which the
contract was broken, the debt was incurred, etc, except in the case of
personal injury or defective products when the period starts to run from
the date at which the claimant fist became aware of the residual impact
of an action. But as always these are minimum rather than maximum
periods. In fact the Limitation Act places no obligation on you to
retain records for any period at all - it simply specifies the length of
time after which you cannot bring an action. You are certainly under no
obligation to destroy them.
In practical terms, many organisations use a whole financial or calendar
year as a manageable grouping - destroying all the financial records of
the company after the whole of the current year plus 6 which meets a
prudential requirement under the Limitation Act and a specific legal
requirement under the VAT Act and other pieces of, largely, financial
legislation.
Peter Emmerson
Director
Emmerson Consulting Limited
Poplar House
5 School Street
Witton-Le-Wear
County Durham DL14 0AS
Office 01388 488865
Mobile 07740 942682
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Emmerson Consulting Limited is registered in England No. 3607347.
Registered Office: 140 Coniscliffe Road, Darlington, Co Durham, DL3 7RT
-----Original Message-----
From: The UK Records Management mailing list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Paul Dodgson
Sent: 10 April 2006 12:15
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Limitations Act 1980
Hi
I have spoken to many people about the Limitations Act 1980 and have had
varying views on how to calculate 6 years.
The HM Revenue and Customs say e.g.
six year period starts 20 July 1995
six year period ends 19 July 2001
Others say six full years, i.e. 1/1/06 31/12/12.
The reason for this enquiry is an interpretation due to a DPA enquiry I
am
involved in resolving. The enquirier insists that we should remove
content
as suggested by HMRC, my argument is the longer interpretation mentioned
above.
Any views please?
thanks
Paul
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