Policy of council on retaining child protection records was lawful: High Court

A High Court judge has ruled that it was lawful for a local authority to have a policy of retaining child protection records for a period of 35 years after a case has been closed.

The claimant in C, R (on the application of) v Northumberland County Council & Anor [2015] EWHC (Admin) 2134 felt that he and his family had been the subject of a significant injustice in their dealings with the council, and that the council held material about them as a result. He wanted all the data relating to the case to be destroyed.

Both the claimant and the Information Commissioner – as an Interested Party – argued that a retention period of longer than six years could not be justified.

It was agreed however that it was for the council to demonstrate to the court that its retention policy was justified.

The policy at Northumberland covered “child protection: investigations under section 47 of the Children Act 1989, child protection minutes, child protection plans and associated case recording”.

It said records would be retained for 35 years after the case was closed, unless the child was or became looked after (in which case the retention policy was 75 years from the date of birth) or adopted (in which case the retention policy was 100 years from the date of the adoption order).

The case highlighted a lack of authoritative national guidance or uniformity among local authorities, with a wide variation of retention periods.

“Among those consulted, Devon has a policy which limited retention to the period up to the subject's 21st year, while Cambridgeshire, Newcastle, Norfolk, Staffordshire and Swindon have a retention period which lasted to a period of 75 years from date of birth,” the judge, Mr Justice Simon, noted.

“Somerset has a retention period of 6 years from 18th birthday (a policy similar to that advocated by the Claimant and Information Commissioner); and Liverpool, the London Borough of Richmond, Sunderland and Thurrock have a period of retention of 35 years from case closure (the same, or similar, to the Defendant's Retention Policy).”

Mr Justice Simon dismissed the challenge. He said: “I accept the defendant's submissions that there is a need to keep the records for a substantial period, and certainly substantially longer than the period argued for by the claimant and the Information Commissioner. It might be argued that the period of 35 years is not the only possible period of retention, but in my judgment it falls within the bracket of legitimate periods of retention.

“I have therefore concluded that the defendant's Retention Policy of 35 years is in accordance with the law, has been carefully considered, adapted to the purposes for which it is required, and is applied proportionately and flexibly.”

For a detailed analysis of the case, see Child protection and data protection by Christopher Knight of 11KBW.