Child protection records: retention

Understand the guidance on keeping child protection records, including the information on pupil files, court orders and allegations made against members of staff.

Last reviewed on 23 June 2023
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School types: All · School phases: All
Ref: 12194
Contents
  1. You're no longer required to indefinitely retain records on child sexual abuse
  2. There's no statutory retention period
  3. Recommendations from the IRMS
  4. Keeping records of allegations made against staff
  5. Keeping court orders relating to pupils

You're no longer required to indefinitely retain records on child sexual abuse

Previously, it was an offence to destroy any records that might be relevant to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA). This requirement overrode UK data protection laws – see section 21 of the Inquiries Act 2005.

The IICSA has now concluded, so this is no longer included as a requirement in Keeping Children Safe in Education 2023.

You should now treat records that contain information about allegations of sexual abuse in the same way as any other information about allegations made against staff. Please see the section below about 'keeping records of allegations made against staff' for more guidance.

We'll update this article if any further guidance is published – select 'save for later' at the top of this article to be notified if we make any changes.

Apart from the above rules, there are no specific regulations on how long you should

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