Financial records must, by law, be kept for six years. Financial records include paperwork relating to welfare grants and committee minutes where decisions are made about funding or any other financial aspect.

All support and grants records relating to individuals should be kept to the minimum time needed and should be destroyed as soon as they are no longer needed. Remember, too, that people must be made aware if information about them is to be kept, and must give their permission. They also have a right to see any information held on them. This is a complicated area, please refer to Data Protection and Confidentiality for further help.

Membership records should be kept only as long as necessary - usually until someone ceases to be a member. Remember that lists of addresses go out-of-date very quickly.

Minutes of committee meetings should, as mentioned above, be kept for 6 years, and after that can be destroyed. However, AGM minutes should not be destroyed and should be kept as part of the branch records. As important decisions should be either made or reported on at AGMs, these minutes should provide a good history of the branch, for future members to refer to. A copy of all AGM minutes should be sent to the National Centre as a back-up.

If you need further clarity please email Local Support.