The standards and best practice guidelines below are for records and information managers in all organisations that create or hold public records. They aim to promote effective records  management in government.

File creation (PDF, 0.37Mb)

Tracking records (PDF, 0.28Mb)

Business recovery plans (PDF, 0.09Mb)

Dissolution of Public Bodies (PDF, 0.08Mb)

Documentation of records work (PDF, 0.08Mb)

Closure on transfer guidelines (PDF, 0.12Mb)

Closure on transfer form (XLS, 0.02Mb)

Retention application form (DOC, 0.04Mb)

Redaction toolkit: guidelines for the editing of exempt information from paper and electronic documents prior to release (PDF, 0.15Mb)

Guidance on the management of Private Office papers (PDF, 0.90Mb)

Privatisation of Public Bodies (PDF, 0.19Mb)

Preparation of records for transfer to The National Archives

How to prepare (PDF, 0.17Mb)

Dummy card and redactions (PDF, 0.12Mb)

Loose papers (PDF, 0.11Mb)

Maps and plans (PDF, 0.13Mb)

Packing (PDF, 0.14Mb)

Photographs, negatives and glassplates (PDF, 0.13Mb)

Preparation of records (PDF, 0.70Mb)

Standard files (PDF, 0.12Mb)

Tagging items into a file (PDF, 0.21Mb)

A new version of our longer pdf on Preparation of records for transfer to The National Archives will be issued in 2012.

This page contains PDF, XLS, DOC files. See plug-ins and file formats for help in accessing these file types.

The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 4DU. Tel: +44 (0) 20 8876 3444. Contact us