Scottish Council on Archives Record Retention Schedules (SCARRS)
SCARRS provides local and other public authorities with up-to-date guidance for the compilation of retention schedules to help manage the records they create and use day-to-day. SCARRS helps to identify statutory and regulatory retention periods for those records where these exist and suggests typical retention periods based on common practice. Before using the schedules, we recommend you read our guidance.
Not Legal Advice
SCARRS offers general guidance and must not to be confused with legal advice. Organisations are always legally responsible for their own records retention decisions and that liability cannot be transferred (in whole or in part) to the Scottish Council on Archives or any other external organisation.
Guidance
This user guide will help you get the most out of SCARRS:
Schedules & Updates
The schedules are available in two formats. From this page you can select an individual function to download MS Excel spreadsheets, with both the Business Classification Scheme and the Records Retention Schedule for each. A single PDF document containing the combined schedules is also available to facilitate easy printing and basic text search. These are the most up to date versions of the schedules.
SCARRS combined schedules PDF version 2.3
Regular Updates
In addition to monitoring both Scottish and UK-wide legislative developments, we listen to the sector. Your feedback helps to keep SCARRS current and useful. Find out how to improve SCARRS.
| Date of Changes | Schedule Affected | Version Number | Changes |
| April 2015 | 4 Consumer Affairs | 2.1 | 4.005.009 Amended retention period, trigger, |
| April 2015 | 3 Community Safety | 2.1 | Added 3.003.016. Reduced retention period 3.008.001 |
| April 2015 | 14 Housing | 2.1 | Added series 14.005.026 |
| April 2015 | 15 Human Resources | 2.1 | Added series 15.003.009. Corrected reference number errors |
| April 2015 | 16 ICT | 2.1 | Duplicated rows deleted |
| April 2015 | 21 Planning and Building Standards | 2.1 | Removed series 21.002.015 |
| April 2015 | 22 Procurement | 2.1 | Series 22.002.013 added |
| October 2015 | 3 Community Safety | 2.2 | Removed sections 3.005 and 3.006 |
| October 2015 | 10 Education and Skills | 2.2 | 10.002.001 Amended closure period |
| November 2015 | 17 Information Management | 2.2 | Series 17.004.005 and 6 amended |
| June 2016 | 10 Education and Skills | 2.3 | Added series 10.001.003 to 10.001.007 |
| June 2016 | 01 Adult Care Services | 2.1 | Added 1.002.001 and 1.002.002 |
| June 2016 | 02 Children & Family Services | 2.1 | Added note on Historical Child Abuse Inquiry Scotland |
| June 2016 | 12 Finance | 2.3 | Added function 12.008 |
| June 2016 | 17 Information Management | 2.3 | Series 17.004.005 and 6 and 7 amended. Series 17.004.009 added. |
| June 2016 | 12 Finance | 2.3 | Added function 12.008 |
| October 2016 | 6 Cemeteries and Crematoria | 2.1 | Added series 06.001.09- 06.001.15 under Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016 and added notes to related series |
| Date of Changes | Schedule Affected | Version Number | Changes |
| October 2016 | 4 Consumer Affairs | 2.2 | Merged 04.005.059 into series 04.005.058. Added series 04.005.75 to .79 |
| October 2016 | 12 Finance | 2.2 | Amendment to 12.001.01, correction to 12.007.08 |
| January 2017 | 10 Education and Skills | 2.4 | Added note on Historical Child Abuse Inquiry Scotland |
| January 2017 | 19 Leisure and Culture | 2.1 | Added Archaeology function 19.014 – Historic Environment Record series |
| October 2017 | 2 Children & Family Services | 2.2 | Added new series 02.001.020, 02.001.021, 02.010.005, and 02.010.006 on Case files |
| October 2017 | 4 Consumer Affairs | 2.1 | Updated citation in 04.005.009 (caravan and camping licenses), but no change to retention schedules |
| October 2017 | 7 Criminal Justice | 2.1 | Updated series description of 07.003.002 to Community Justice Social Work Reports. Updated reference to Circular 18 in series 7.001.006. No change to retention recommendations |
| October 2017 | 10 Education & Skills | 2.5 | Added new series 10.006.011 on Education Maintenance Allowance applications and learning agreements. Suggested retention Financial Years + 6 years |
| October 2017 | 11 Environmental Protection | 2.1 | Updated citations and series descriptions for several series under 11.003 – Environmental Impact Assessment to reflect the Environmental Impact Assessment (Scotland) Regulations 2017, SSI 2017 No 102. No change to retention recommendation. |
| October 2017 | 15 Human Resources | 2.2 | Updated citations at 15.3.009, 15.1.001 for Equal Pay regulations and ACAS guidance. No change to retention recommendations. |
| March 2018 | 19 Leisure & Culture | 2.2 | Added series 19.001.005 |
| June 2019 | 6 Cemeteries & Crematoria | 2.1 | Amendments to reflect Cremation (Scotland) Regulations 2019 |
| June 2019 | 17 Information Management | 2.5 | Added series 17.001.010 at recommendation of Glasgow City Council |
| June 2019 | 23 Registrars | 2.1 | New series for Civil Partnerships added to 23.001 at suggestion of East Dunbartonshire Council |