I have been asked by my placement to find out how long they have to keep records for, of all their work including details of the children accessing their services. They are an charity providing services.
I do have details at home provided by my last placement (stat) but wondered in the absence of those files if anyone could point me in the direction of that information on the web?
Cheers!
Apparently they are bound as is everyone else by the not keeping records any longer than necessary, but have no obligations to keep records of disclosures etc for any period of time. Got there in the end!
I am not an expert on this but I would have thought everything can be scanned and paper files destroyed after e.g 5 - 10 years depending on storage facilities, but there may well be government requirements even if they are a charity????
Just looking at 'Promoting a Safe Church' from C of E House of Bishops. Church House Publishing (Published 2006)
They suggest that Records concerned with abuse should be kept indefinitely (at least 50 years)
Still learning and willing to learn
No apparently the duty is to safely dispose of all records as soon as they are no longer needed as records cannot by law be kept any longer than necessary. Disclosures included. So we keep them only as long as we need to. Statutory agencies have different rules but that is the rules for charities.
There are some situations where the guidelines indicated non-statutory bodies are expected to send some of their records to the statutory authority to be incorporated into their files once no longer required by the organisation - such as in private and voluntary fostering.
BBHG: No apparently the duty is to safely dispose of all records as soon as they are no longer needed as records cannot by law be kept any longer than necessary. Disclosures included. So we keep them only as long as we need to. Statutory agencies have different rules but that is the rules for charities.
Are there any guidelines on defining what is meant by 'no longer than necessary'?
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I make very sure that the only records I keep are in my very bad memory.
Depends on the client group and who you need to hand off to or share with I guess.
Age old issue: organisational needs / govy rules / client preferences.
I go with client preferences every time, but that's just me. Info belongs to the client imo.
It may be different in Australia Dominic but in UK there are some situations where information must be recorded and passed on - the implication being that it doesn't simply belong to the service user.
For example under the Health & safety at Work Act 1974 we must report hazards and risks. The Caldicott rules apply in UK here: