How long must your employer keep your staff records?

Updated 8 November 2026

Old records matter more than people think. A holiday pay or minimum wage claim, a reference dispute, or a tribunal case can turn on documents from years ago. Here is how long your employer has to keep them, and how to get your own copy before they go.

Records with a fixed legal minimum

These are minimums. An employer can keep records longer if it has a good reason, for example while a dispute is live or a claim is possible.

Working time and holiday records

Under regulation 9 of the Working Time Regulations 1998, employers must keep records adequate to show they have complied with the weekly working limit, night work limits and the rules for young workers, and retain them for two years. They do not have to log every worker's daily hours if they can show compliance another way.

Since 6 April 2026, a new regulation 16B, added by the Employment Rights Act 2025, requires employers to keep records adequate to show they have given workers their holiday entitlement and holiday pay, and to keep them for six years. That matters if you think your holiday pay has been worked out wrongly, because the records should now exist for long enough to check.

Minimum wage and payroll records

The government's minimum wage guidance says employers must keep records proving they pay the minimum wage for at least six years, counted from the last day of the pay reference period after the one the records cover. Most employers use their payroll records for this.

Separately, HMRC requires employers to keep payroll records for three years from the end of the tax year they relate to. If you think you were paid below the minimum wage, these records are the starting point.

Everything else: no longer than necessary

Most of what is in your personnel file, such as your application, appraisals, sickness notes, disciplinary records and references, has no fixed legal retention period. Data protection law says personal data should be kept for no longer than is necessary for the purpose it was collected for. Most employers set their own retention policy, often keeping a former employee's file for around six years after they leave, because that is the usual limit for contract claims in England and Wales. Ask to see the policy if you want to know what will happen to your file.

Your written statement of employment particulars is worth keeping yourself. It sets out your pay, hours, holiday and notice, and your employer must give it to you on or before your first day.

How to get a copy of your own records

You can make a subject access request for the personal data your employer holds about you. Send it in writing to HR or your employer's data protection contact, and say what you want: for example your personnel file, emails about you, or records of a particular disciplinary or grievance. It is usually free, and your employer should normally respond within one month.

Some information can be withheld, for example where it would reveal information about other people. If your employer does not respond, or you are unhappy with how it handles your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.

What to include in a subject access request

A clear request gets a better answer. It helps to include:

• your full name, job title, employee or payroll number, and the dates you worked there
• the information you want, as specifically as you can: for example, your personnel file, notes of a meeting on a particular date, or emails between named managers about you
• how you would like to receive it, such as by email
• a statement that you are making a subject access request under data protection law

Note the date you sent it. If your employer says the records have been destroyed, ask when and under what retention policy. For records with a fixed legal minimum, such as holiday records made since 6 April 2026, destroying them early is itself a breach of the rules.

Why the dates matter for a claim

Records help prove a claim, but they do not stop the clock. A tribunal claim for unpaid wages runs from the payday, and you must bring it within six months less a day where the payday was on or after 1 October 2026; our page on the unpaid wages claim deadline explains how far back a claim can reach. Ask for your records early rather than waiting for them before you contact Acas.

If you need a reference rather than records, our page on references after you leave covers what an employer can and cannot say.