The Public Records Act requires certain public bodies to transfer records of historical value for permanent preservation to local archive services appointed as ‘places of deposit’. The point of transfer was by the time the records reached 30 years old.
Changes in legislation mean that, since 1 January 2015, specified local public sector organisations (magistrates’ courts, prisons, coroners’ courts, NHS bodies and some arms-length bodies including the Environment Agency) must now transfer records selected for permanent preservation to a place of deposit at 20 years after their creation, rather than the previous 30 years.
There is a 10-year transition period so, in 2016, selected records up to and including 1988 (records 28 years old or older) had to be transferred. The transfer age for records reduced by a further year during each year of the transition period until 2024, when records from 2004 will be received.
Our role
The aim of our programme is to ensure public record bodies maintain compliance with the Public Records Act, so that by the end of 2024 they are transferring their records for permanent preservation to places of deposit when they reach 20 years old, while ensuring selection and transfer is made in accordance with best practice and guidance.
The 20 year rule team has been:
- issuing guidance and training to public record bodies to emphasise their responsibilities under the Public Records Act
- providing places of deposit with guidance to support transition
- allocating ‘New Burdens’ funding to local authority places of deposit and coroners’ courts, alleviating the pressure of the extra work involved in transition
- monitoring public record transfers to places of deposit through the annual Accessions to Repositories survey for UK archives and the Record Transfer survey for public record bodies transferring to places of deposit
New Burdens funding
£6.6 million of ‘New Burdens’ funding has been made available from central government over the ten-year transition period to cover the increased activity for local authority places of deposit, with smaller sums available to assist coroners. Distributed via The National Archives, £660,000 has been made available for each year of transition. Payments are allocated in proportion to a place of deposit’s share of the total volume of accessioned public records covered in Schedule 1.
Find out more about New Burdens funding
Find out more
20 year rule FAQs (PDF, 0.31MB)
A brief guide to transferring Records of Local Interest (PDF, 0.31MB)