Check how long your provision keeps its records

Written for: Alternative provision leaders and DSLs.

The retention schedule in Audit and Retention shows, for each kind of record your provision keeps in Student Radar, how long it should be kept, when that period starts and what Student Radar actually does with the record. Use it to write or check your own retention policy.

Open the retention schedule

In the sidebar, open Compliance and choose Audit and Retention. The page opens on Retention schedule.

The page is titled Audit, Retention, and Records Toolkit. The banner has two shortcuts: Record export opens Provision Settings, where you can export your learner records, and Evidence Store opens your stored documents.

The Audit, Retention, and Records Toolkit banner with the Record export and Evidence Store buttons, above the Retention schedule and Subject access sections.

Read a record card

There’s one card for each kind of record. The period is shown under its name, and the card says:

Covers: which records it includes.
Period starts: the date the period counts from, such as the pupil’s date of birth or the day a member of staff leaves.
What happens: what Student Radar does with these records, for example whether a correction keeps the earlier version.
Audit trail: what is recorded about each change, and who made it.
Record export: whether your AP learner record export includes these records, and why not if it doesn’t.
Basis: the law or guidance the period comes from.

Each card has a button that opens the page where those records are kept, for example Open Pupils or Open Single Central Record.

The Learner record card, kept until the pupil’s 25th birthday. It shows what the record covers, that the period starts at the date of birth, what happens to the records, the audit trail, Record export Included and the basis from the IRMS toolkit, with an Open Pupils button.

The records on the schedule

Record	Suggested period
Learner record	Until the pupil’s 25th birthday
Referrals	With the learner record if placed; otherwise 1 year after the decision
Anonymised referral copies	No longer than the original document
Referral portal uploads	As for the referral they belong to
Placements	With the learner record, until the pupil’s 25th birthday
Attendance	At least 6 years from each entry, and with the learner record
Risk assessments	With the learner record, until the pupil’s 25th birthday
Single central record	While the person works with you, then 6 years after they leave
Invoices and billing	6 years after the end of the financial year they relate to

Check the card for the full wording and its basis.

When a period ends

Student Radar never deletes AP learner records automatically. When a period ends, a disposal decision is due: review the record, decide what to do with it and keep a note of what you decided.

The periods follow UK law and guidance for England. They’re a starting point for your own judgement, not a ruling. Your provision is the data controller, so confirm each period in your own retention policy, taking advice from your data protection officer where you need it. The version of the schedule is shown at the bottom of About these periods.

The About these periods card. It says Student Radar never deletes AP learner records automatically, so a disposal decision is due when a period ends, that the periods follow UK law and guidance for England and you confirm them in your own retention policy, and that safeguarding records keep their own rules in Safeguard. The version, AP retention schedule v1 (27 Oct 2026), is at the bottom.

Notes

Safeguarding records: these aren’t on this schedule. They keep their own retention rules in Safeguard.
Who can open the page: leaders and safeguarding leads can open Audit and Retention by default. If you can’t see it under Compliance, ask your Provision Lead for access.
Subject access requests: the Subject access section of the same page helps you answer a request for a pupil’s records. See Respond to a subject access request for a pupil.
Single Central Record: for staff checks and leavers, see Keep your Single Central Record.

If something doesn’t work

What you see	What to do
Audit and Retention isn’t under Compliance	Your access doesn’t include the page. Ask your Provision Lead.
A card’s button opens a page you can’t use	Each page checks your access on its own. Ask a colleague who works with those records, or your Provision Lead.
You want to delete records whose period has ended	Student Radar doesn’t delete AP learner records. Record your disposal decision in line with your retention policy.