Records management code

Section 46 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires the Lord Chancellor to issue a Code of Practice on the management of records. The Code was published in November 2002 and came into effect on 1 January 2005, at the same time as the rights of access.

It is in two parts: Part I sets out good practice in records management and applies to all public authorities covered by the Act, and also to bodies that are not FOI authorities but are bodies subject to the Public Records Act 1958 or the Public Records Act (Northern Ireland) 1923. Part II sets out how public records (records subject to the two Public Records Acts) are to be reviewed and transferred to The National Archives, the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland or another place of deposit for public records.

We have issued a revised Code for consultation.

Find out more about the Freedom of Information Act.

The National Archives is working to promote compliance with the Code of Practice on the Management of Records in all public authorities:

Central government

For central government, a programme has been developed to identify the levels of risk faced by departments through failure to comply with the Code. Find out more on Information management assessments

Public authorities

An evaluation workbook and methodology and an automated support tool have been developed to help all public authorities assess their records management against the Code.

Section 46 code: Implementation guides for records managers

To help public authorities comply with the Code of Practice The National Archives has developed a series of practical and easy to use toolkits

Other guidance to help implement Freedom of Information

Redaction toolkit: Guidelines for the editing of exempt information from paper and electronic documents prior to release, can be accessed here

Model retention schedule: A schedule for records created in the course of handling FOI requests identifying how long they should be kept, is available here

Operational selection policy: Operational selection policies (OSPs) apply the criteria set out in the Acquisition policy to the records of individual departments and agencies. An OSP on the selection of public records generated by the processing of Freedom of Information Act (FOI) access requests and on the selection of the information that has been requested can be viewed here

Model action plans

The National Archives has produced, or collaborated in the production of, model action plans to help different parts of the public sector achieve conformance with the Code.