Type or Record

Retention Period

Pay & tax: HMRC correspondence, PAYE records, maternity and paternity pay records

6 years from end of fiscal year

Employment records: redundancy, equal opportunities; health & welfare records; pay & tax: pay deductions, tax forms, payroll, loan

6 years after last action

Mailing lists, mailing proofs, interview records, unsuccessful job applications

2 years after last action

Accounting & financial management information, personal data, complaints, employment records, legacies, intellectual property, pay & tax, pension information, risk & insurance

6 years from end of fiscal year

Litigation dossiers, agreements/ contracts, declarations of interest, superannuation registers

10 years from last action

Pensioner records, investment policies, statements of investments principles and policies

12 years after benefit ceases or adoption

Asset registers, receipts, purchase orders, invoices – revenue, petty cash, creditor’s & debtor’s records; benefits in kind; draw results; standard T&C’s, software licenses, management accounts, successful grant applications and correspondence, trade marks

6 years after last action

Disclosures & Barring Service data

Unsuccessful applicants – 6 months
Successful candidates  -3 years.

A health record is a legal record of the outcome of health surveillance. Employers must keep them for all workers under health surveillance.

They must be kept for at least the period specified in the relevant regulations, for example 40 years under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH). Where regulations do not specify how long they should be kept for, the health record should be kept at least while you employ the worker.