Disposing of records

This guidance is intended for every member of University staff who is responsible for disposing of records, including destroying paper records, deleting electronic records, and transferring records to the University Archives. It provides brief steps outlining why we dispose of records, when we should dispose of records, the different approaches to disposition, and how to document disposition.

All staff at the University who create or use records have responsibility for ensuring that those records are responsibly managed: this includes effective disposition of records, which should be carried out under records management rules supported by their business area.

Each business area should maintain an effective records retention schedule, which acts as a guide for staff to be able to manage disposition in a justifiable manner. While some records systems at the University will carry out disposition of records in line with retention schedules automatically, most records systems will involve at least some manual actions by staff.


The unnecessary retention of records consumes staff time, space and equipment, as well as exposing the University to risks. As a prime example, data protection legislation requires the University to keep records for no longer than necessary: the University can be subject to regulatory investigation, sued, or fined up to £500,000 for retaining information for longer than necessary if this causes damage to an individual.


It is important that we do not keep information longer than we need it. Ask your information practitioner, or the member of staff responsible for records management in your business area, for a copy of your area’s retention schedule which will tell you how long to keep your records. The local retention schedule should be based on the University-wide retention schedules on our website which give the minimum length of time we must keep key groups of records, including student records, staff records, finance records and health and safety records. If you do need to keep information for longer than the minimum period, record this, and the reason for it, on your local retention schedule.


Records should be disposed of in line with retention schedules, or as soon as they are no longer needed for ongoing business and accountability purposes. Each business area’s disposition processes should include an appropriate system of authorisation.

Some complex digital records systems may allow the automation of disposition actions, where records are authorised to be destroyed at the end of their retention period without action from users; however, records systems with less complex records management capabilities will require disposition actions to be performed manually by staff.

For electronic records that have the disposition action ‘destroy’ applied to them on the relevant retention schedule, it is likely that you will carry out this destruction routinely by deleting the records directly within the records system, and then removing from the recycle bin if necessary. However, this sort of deletion may not fully eradicate the data. A copy of the record may still remain on the PC, laptop or other device; when passing on or disposing of computing equipment and devices, it is important to take further steps.

To ensure that full destruction of paper and electronic records is complete, use one of the University’s waste disposal and recycling services. There is information about how to dispose of confidential waste (paper and data), and how to dispose of electrical equipment on the University website.

Before disposing of records or equipment, consider the consequences for the University or another party should an unauthorised person gain access to the ‘destroyed’ information. If the information is in the public domain or you would release it without concern in response to a freedom of information request, dispose of it through normal waste procedures, for example in a paper recycling bin.

For other information, use a secure or confidential waste disposal option. The University’s Waste Office can provide further advice on the most appropriate destruction methods for your information.


Records meeting the selection criteria set out in the Centre for Research Collections’ Collections (CRC) Development Policy Statement, found within the Collections Management Policy 2020-2030, should be transferred to the Edinburgh University Archives. These records should have the disposition action ‘transfer to archive’ applied to them on the relevant retention schedule.

The Centre for Research Collections provides guidance on the internal transfer of digital records. For guidance on the transfer of paper records, please contact CRC at heritagecollections@ed.ac.uk.


Disposition records should set out a description of the records disposed of, the method and date of the disposal, and who authorised and carried out the disposal. Recording this information proves that records have been destroyed in line with routine disposition processes, and could help defend the University against legal action. The most advanced records systems are likely to be able to produce audit trails as records are deleted; however, most records systems will require manual actions by staff. The actions required should be set out in business areas’ disposition processes.


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