Records and Information Management

The records management guides have been researched and produced by records and archive management specialists at the National Church Institutions. They have used expert advice from The National Archives, local record offices and the wider records management and archive profession.

The guides are designed to help parishes, dioceses, bishops and cathedrals develop a consistent and best practice approach to looking after church records in their care, whether paper or electronic. There is a separate guide for each specific set of church records. Each guide contains some general records management advice along with detailed guidance on keeping records associated with each area and their retention.

For further information, please email [email protected].

Core guides

Note: We are aware that the guidelines are due for revision, these are still the most up to date guidelines. We are working to revise these as soon as possible.

We are currently establishing working groups with key stakeholders from the various Church bodies to help revise and update these guides. If you would like to be involved in one of these working groups please contact Robert Hutton, Information Manager for the National Church Institutions at [email protected].

Retention schedules

Safeguarding (March 2024): This records retention schedule has been specifically developed to cover all Safeguarding Records for the NCI’s and the Wider Church. It replaces any safeguarding information in the guides above.

Relevant policies

The House of Bishops has approved guidance for bishops regarding the content, management and sharing of clergy personal files, also known as 'blue files'.

Fact sheets

These factsheets cover various records management topics in bite-size sections.