Old Paperwork

[Verona]

I am sure, quite a while ago, there was a posting relating to how long we keep paperwork.

It was quite a long list - including accounts, childs attendances, incidents books, payments, funding, milk claims forms, Pre-school registration certificates, staff details etc, etc, etc.

I rememer being quite shocked as to how long some items should be kept. One of the items was to be kept for 40 years!!!

 

Well, I have decided that my house just can't take the strain any more --- got to sort it out, stop hoarding and THROW STUFF OUT!!!! (shred the paper work first, of course) I have owned my Pre-school for almost 25 years and I still have ALL the paper work.

If anyone can remember seeing this posting, please let me know where it is - because I need to start the great clear out.

 

Sue J

[Beau]

Funnily enough there was something in this weeks Nursery World about this. I remember the post you're talking about - it was very long and seemed OTT to me. Later I'll take a look at the Nursery World thing and get back to you with it.

[Guest]

It is your insurance cert that you have to keep for 40 years Sue. Can't remember what else just at the moment but that one is a must keep!

Linda

[Guest]

I agree with Linda, and I thought accidents reports as well, cover against future claims!!!

The Nursery World article didn't state this though.

 

Peggy

[Rea]

We have limited space at playgroup and as the stuff could be confidential nobody wants to take it home, especially as committee members come and go. I mentioned the time various paperwork has to be kept to our DW from the PLA. She suggested we keep all paperwork that has to be kept in a locked cabinet, until it is full. So this years registers and accident books will replace the ones from 1995 or there wont be room for them.

[Guest]

Sounds good to me Rea, I think that all of us are so contientious(spell check please) that we soooo want to do what is right, but we must keep it realistic. I wonder what other professions have a forum site like this, and spend such valuable time making sure we do what's the best. Lets leave it to each and everyone's "professional judgement", as to how long we keep what. Worst scenario, we get sued, and as we earn a pittance we can't lose a fortune from would be claiments. Does that make sense? just returned from a night out!!!!!

 

 

 

Peggy

[Lucy P]

Hi

 

I think this may be the topic you are looking for.

[Guest]

Hi Everyone,

When I asked my DW she said that I only had to keep paperwork from AFTER my last ofsted. Apart from insurance documents and incident books.

After all, at every ofsted they need to see the paperwork, so it has to be recorded in the ofsted that you have it and they've seen it.

 

net x

[Verona]

Thanks for that Lucy, now I can start clearing the filing cabinets. I think the shredder will need an overhaul by the time I've finished.

I must admit that keeping some of the documents for so long seems ridiculous but I suppose that nowadays we can't be too careful, although

I also agree with you Peggy.

 

Sue J

[thoreed]

There seem to be so many different (and often contradictory!) opinions on how long paperwork needs to be kept in a nursery setting. The Data Protection Act actually states that records should be kept only if there is a reason to do so - we should not be keeping records just for the sake of it.

 

With this in mind, we need to think about each type of record we keep and think about whether there is a reason to keep it after a child has left the setting. In the case of financial records, the tax laws require these to be kept for 6 years from the end of the relevant tax year. In the case of insurance documents, these should be kept indefinitely because there may be a need to claim on the policy many years after the event.

 

As far as other types of day-to-day documentation is concerned (i.e. registers, development records etc.), I can not think of a good reason to keep them, so the Data Protection Act requires that these should be destroyed more or less immediately. It may be worth keeping some things for a few months in case of disputes over fees / grants, but no longer than that.

 

Not sure if this makes any sense. Does anyone know whether this is correct?

 

Tom