What we do

The National Archives' responsibility

The National Archives’ Public Task under the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015 (‘the Regulations’) consists of the obligations of The National Archives and the duties of its officials (including those duties delegated by the Secretary of State to the Keeper of Public Records):

• under the Public Records Act 1958 and associated legislation
• under the Historical Manuscripts Commission Royal Warrant
• under Letters Patent, appointing the Queen’s Printer of Acts of Parliament
• under the Scotland Act 1998, appointing the Queen’s Printer for Scotland
• under executive action, appointing the Controller of His Majesty’s Stationery Office and Government Printer of Northern Ireland
• as official publisher of UK legislation
• as leader of the archives sector in England
• as a non-ministerial government department sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

The National Archives produces, holds, and uses documents within its Public Task:

• in any and all formats and media
• in physical and digital form, both online and offline
• on The National Archives’ premises and externally.

The National Archives produces, holds, and uses documents within its Public Task for the purposes of:

• accessioning public records
• preserving public records and other deposited records
• providing reasonable facilities for the public to inspect and obtain copies of public records
• publishing legislation
• providing advice and guidance for government and the archives sector
• promoting collaboration and sharing of good practice within the archives sector
• satisfying its statutory and non-statutory obligations.

The National Archives actively seeks to maximise the public value of its collection, including by undertaking activities that are beyond its Public Task. For example, other people or organisations might commission or fund the digitisation of public records, in partnership with The National Archives, to widen access or to achieve a commercial return. Information created for these purposes is outside our Public Task.

Therefore, the following information products are outside our Public Task:

• digital surrogates of public records, created or funded by others for commercial purposes
• digital surrogates of public records, created or funded by others to widen access to the collection

Information on re-use of documents available under the Regulations can be found on the Copyright and re-use pages of The National Archives website. The National Archives encourages interested parties to comment on the statement. Questions, comments and complaints may be submitted through The National Archives’ contact pages and/or complaints procedure.

What the archive holds

The National Archives' collection is one of the largest in the world, containing over 18 million historical government and public records. 

From Domesday Book to modern government papers and digital files, its collection includes paper and parchment, digital records and websites, photographs, posters, maps, drawings and paintings.

The archives work to preserve and care for these records to ensure their survival for the public.

The 20-year rule

The National Archives regularly receives new records to preserve.

The Public Records Act requires central government departments to identify records of historical value and transfer them for permanent preservation to The National Archives by the time they are 20 years old. This also applied to certain other public bodies and can include transfer to another appointed place of deposit.

Some records are transferred to earlier under the Freedom of Information Act.

How we catalogue records

The overall objective of our cataloguing work is to deliver more comprehensive and searchable catalogues, improving access to public records (both physical and digital).

Our catalogue descriptions aim to be accurate, inclusive and respectful to all users, while also conveying the historical content and context of our collections.

Cataloguing practices

Discover The National Archives' approach to cataloguing records for accuracy, accessibility and searchability.

Other tasks

As the official archive and publisher for the UK Government, and for England and Wales, The National Archives tasks expand beyond preserving its collection.

These include but are not limited to:

• researching records it holds to advance historical knowledge and understanding
• providing educational resources related to The National Archives records and their context in history
• supporting The National Archives users to access records for their research
• offering advice and guidance for the wider archives sector
• providing a wide range of professional services, including
  • digitisation
  • licensing
  • collection loans
  • venue hire.