“How long should I keep staff records?” is a frequent question we get asked. The answer is not straightforward as you have to consider current staff and previous staff and the type of records that are being maintained.
Data Protection Legislation, including GDPR, sets out that you should not retain information for longer than necessary but you also need to consider the prospect of a legal or insurance claim and therefore retain the documents to assist with those processes.
Lets talk about previous employees.
Most records for a previous employee should be retained for 6 years after they have left, this is because they can still take the organisation to court for up to 6 years after their employment ends.
The exception to this would be any Health and Safety assessment such as Display Screen Equipment (DSE) which should be retained permanently. Parental leave records should be retained until the child would be 18 years of age. 
Current Employees
With current employees we hold a great many documents and they, potentially, have different timescales for retention.
For example, Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks, the number of the report should be retained for 3 years.
The annual earnings summary should be kept for 12 years. Records related to terms and conditions and training records should be retained for 6 years after they are superseded.
What about those who applied but didn’t get the job?
When someone applies but doesn’t get the job, you should retain information about the recruitment process for at least a year after the post has been successfully recruited to. This is because an unsuccessful candidate can bring a claim of discrimination via an employment tribunal. You would want the records to support any defence you need to make.
As you can see timescales for retention vary widely. An organisation should have a retention and destruction document in place setting out the timescales for different documents.
If you need help with creating a policy, then please contact us and we’ll be happy to help.