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The National Archives has published a new Records collection policy.

This policy is a refresh of our previous Acquisition and Disposition Strategy and sets out which records we will and will not collect from public records bodies, when we will collect them and where they will be held.

What's new

The policy has been updated to include more detail on formats such as datasets, digital formats and case files. It also contains information on the transition to '20-year rule'.

As well as providing high-level guidance for public records bodies preparing to transfer records to The National Archives, this policy enables members of the public, including those who use our archives for historical, academic or personal research, to find out what types of records we will collect.

Read the policy below:

Records collection policy (PDF, 0.12Mb)

Ongoing collaboration

We have collated and considered all comments following the publication of our draft policy in the summer. See our responses on our policies page.

We are also reviewing all of our guidance on appraisal and selection, in line with the new policy. We will invite feedback from the public on Operational Selection Policies (OSPs), which are applicable to individual departments and agencies, or to records relating to a cross-departmental theme.