EAST BERGHOLT PARISH COUNCIL

Document Retention Policy

East Bergholt Parish Council’s policy is to retain electronic and paper documents as
long as necessary to meet legal requirements and where there is no legal
requirement, for as long as there is a good business reason to do so.

The Council complies strictly with data protection legislation in respect of the
retention of personal information.

DOCUMENT ELE
CTR
ONI
C/P
APE
R
LOCATION MINIMIUM RETENTION PERIOD
Administration
Agendas and
Minutes of
Council, Annual
Parish Meeting,
Committee
Meetings and
Neighbourhood
Plan Group
E&P Electronic and
Minutes file
Indefinitely (inc. Suffolk Record
Office).

Storage in office recently
upgraded to enable EBPC to keep
documents for as long as needed.
Burial Grounds E&P Manual registers,
plans and other
records,
electronic
correspondence
Indefinitely
CIL reports
(Annual and Six
Monthly) and
associated
correspondence.

E&P Electronic and
filing cabinet
6 years
Contracts E&P Electronic and
filing cabinet
6 years
Clerk’s and Staff
HR records
E&P Electronic and
filing cabinet
2 years after cessation of
employment
Correspondence E&P Electronic and
filing cabinet
Indefinitely

Declaration of
Office – Chairman
E&P Electronic and
filing cabinet
Term of office plus 1 year
Declaration of
Office –
Councillors
E&P Electronic and
filing cabinet
Term of office plus 1 year
Election
documents
E Electronic 6 months after election
Electoral Register E&P Electronic and
filing cabinet
Retain until superseded
Incoming and
outgoing Council
emails
E Electronic Unless it relates to specific
categories outlined in the policy,
correspondence, both paper and
electronic, should be kept.
Records should be kept for as
long as they are needed for
reference or accountability
purposes, to comply with
regulatory requirements or to
protect legal and other rights and
interests.
Inspection reports
– ROSPA
E Electronic Retain until superseded
Judicial Review
documents
E&P Electronic and
filing cabinet
Indefinitely
Leases E&P Electronic and
filing cabinet
Indefinitely
Legal documents E&P Electronic and
filing cabinet
Indefinitely
Planning
applications and
responses
E LPA website LPA determine (indefinitely)
Recruitment and
selection
E&P Electronic and
filing cabinet
6 months
Register of
Interests
E LPA website Indefinitely
Cemetery Records P
(soo
n to
be
digiti
sed)
Parish Council
Offices
Indefinitely

Finance
Annual Return E&P Electronic and
Accounts file by
year
Indefinitely

Bank paying in
books & cheque
book stubs
P Accounts file by
year
2 years
Bank statements P Accounts file by
year
7 years
Budget forecasts E&P Electronic and
Accounts file by
year
3 years
Clerk’s expenses P Accounts file by
year
7 years
Fixed asset
register
E Electronic Retain until superseded
Insurance policies E&P Electronic and
Insurance file

Paid invoices P Accounts file by
year
7 years
PAYE returns P Accounts file by
year
7 years
Tenders E&P Electronic and
contracts file
7 years
Receipt and
payment accounts
E&P Electronic and
Accounts file by
year
Indefinitely
Receipt books P Accounts file by
year
7 years
VAT records E&P Electronic and
Accounts file by
year
7 years

Approved and adopted by East Bergholt Parish Council: 13 July 2023
Next review: July 2024