What happens when material reaches its review date?
Once material held in the Modern Records Store (MRS) reaches its review date it will be securely destroyed only if the necessary permissions have already been obtained from the depositor.
If permissions are not in place, the depositor will be contacted and will be expected to either:
- give permission for their material to be securely destroyed
- extend the review date of their material and, if applicable, pay an additional service charge for ongoing storage. This additional charge is only levied if material has been stored for over 7 years. For more information view our fees and charges
Secure destruction
In recent years the MRS has worked with a number of shredding companies who visit the University to undertake bulk on-site secure shredding. All material is supervised throughout the shredding process and once work has been completed a 'Certificate of Destruction' is issued. This confirms that your material has been securely destroyed according to proper destruction policies and processes.
Secure on-site destruction ensures that the University witnesses the safe disposal of its records. On-site shredding is more expensive than destruction undertaken off-site but means that the University retains full control of records until the time of their destruction.
Retention guidance
It is important that depositors agree to the destruction of their material if it is no longer required to be retained and is of no further use to the University.
To check whether to agree to destruction, or whether you should instead consider extending the review date of your material, please see our retention guidance