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disposal Retention and Disposal

The timely disposal of records can assist in managing the ever increasing demands for space, whether it be physical or electronic (computer storage space). Certain types of records such as personal information must be kept only as long it is required under business and legislative requirements. Periodic assessment of inactive records (generally not used or accessed for 12 months) should be carried out to establish whether the records need to be retained or destroyed.
The following procedures will assist staff with archiving records:

The Public Record Office of Victoria sets standards for disposal. The standards provide directions in relation to:

  • What can be destroyed;
  • When a record can be destroyed; and
  • How it is destroyed.

Some records can be destroyed under Normal Administrative Practice without notifying the PROV, these include:

  • working papers consisting of rough notes and calculations used solely to assist in the preparation of other records such as correspondence, reports and statistical tabulations;
  • drafts not intended for retention as part of the office's records, the content of which has been reproduced and incorporated in the recordkeeping system; and
  • extra copies of documents and published material preserved solely for reference.

All other records need to meet PROV standard Disposal PROS 10/13 and are assessed against a Retention and Disposal Authority. Records may vary from temporary (destroy after administrative use is concluded) to permanent (never to be destroyed and transfer to the Public Record Office once administrative use is concluded). The Retention and Disposal Authorities relate to both physical and electronic records and set a minimum retention period for each type of record. The relevant Retention and Disposal Authorities are:


Higher and Further Education Institutions PROS 02/01 (covers: General Administration, Student Administration, Student Services, Teaching and Research),
Common Administrative Records PROS 07/01 (covers: Assets, Contracts, Enquiries, Finance, Human Resources, Property Management, Transport, Legislation, Policy, Committees, IT and Records Management, Publicity and Corporate Reporting),
Patient Information Records PROS 11/06 (covers: Health Patient Management) and
Converted Source Records PROS 10/01 (covers the disposal of source records after they have been converted to another format)

Inactive records deemed as:

  1. To be destroyed (ie. records that have passed the retention period assessed against an appropriate Retention and Disposal Authority) can be destroyed according to Records Standard Disposal Specifications, PROS 10/13 S2, Records Destruction Request Form will also need to be completed and signed by the Department Head and the form(s) forwarded to Records Management Services for approval prior to the records being destroyed. Once RMS has approved the destruction, the records can be either shredded, or if bulk amounts are to be destroyed place them into an approved secure destruction bin. (Please contact RMS for details). Do not use recycle bins to dispose of records unless records are shredded.
  2. Temporary (ie. records assessed as temporary against an appropriate Retention and Disposal Authority) that must be retained for some time can either be stored within the department or if space is limited transferred to a secondary storage area. These records will need to be processed in TRIM and either transferred to an RMS secondary storage area (if space is available) or an Approved Public Record Office Storage Supplier (APROSS). Departments requiring the transfer of these records will need to contact RMS for training and meet the costs of transporting and storing the records at an APROSS site (if no secondary storage space is available).
  3. Permanent will require both TRIM and PROV processing. Records Management Services will provide training and assistance to carry out this process. Following processing and checking by the department, Records Management Services will arrange for the records to be transferred to a secondary storage area until such time as the PROV accepts the transfer to the State Archives. The cost of transfer and storage will be met by the department wishing to transfer the records.