The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has a number of recommendations with respect to record retention where there is no statutory minimum.
Most items are six years plus the current year, but some items such as board minutes are indefinite – in the LOC context, this would include LOC minutes as there is no ‘board’ as such.
Emails are not specifically mentioned, but best practice is to record any decisions made by email at the next committee meeting. This also applies to any decisions made by a virtual group such as a WhatsApp group. If it is general email discussions, there is no obvious need to keep these.
| Category | Minimum Retention Period |
| Company Documents | |
| Accounting records detailing company transactions, including supporting documents | Three years from creation date – private company
Six years from creation date – public company |
Formal company documents:
|
Indefinitely |
| Meeting minutes | Ten years from date of meeting |