Yes, a unit can be a secure home for paper client files, set up the way you’d set up any records room. Your unit has its own alarm, our sites are watched by monitored CCTV, and only you and the people you authorise can open it, so the files stay under your control.
Your business stays in charge of the records
UK data protection law asks that personal information is kept with appropriate security, protected against unauthorised access and accidental loss or damage, and the organisation that holds it is responsible for showing that it does. That doesn’t change when files move to a unit. The unit’s security is one part; how you organise and manage the files is the other.
What’s in place with us
The outside doors have access control. Every unit has its own alarm, which sets and unsets as you lock and unlock (with smart entry, or your PIN at Chipping Norton), and if it goes off while you’re not there, our security team investigates. Our sites have a secure perimeter and are watched by CCTV, monitored around the clock by a professional monitoring company.
You decide who can get in. You can share access with named colleagues through smart entry, for a set period or with no end date, and call us to take someone off when they leave. At sites including Reading, Cheltenham and Lincoln, our systems also log each time a unit is opened: ask what your site’s log shows before you book. Access is normally 6am to 10pm, seven days a week.
Setting up the unit well
- Use lockable filing cabinets or lidded archive boxes on freestanding shelving, off the floor.
- Number each box and keep the index of what’s inside, and when it’s due for destruction, back at the office rather than writing client names on the outside.
- Keep your own sign-out sheet for any file that leaves the unit.
- Pack everything dry, in sturdy boxes rather than plastic bags, which can trap moisture.
- When files reach the end of their retention period, use a confidential shredding firm that gives you a certificate of destruction. The law also asks that personal data isn’t kept longer than it’s needed, so a regular clear-out helps. For one profession’s timings, see how long solicitors keep client files.
Cash, title deeds and share certificates can’t be stored with us, because they’re so hard to replace, so keep those with your bank or in a deeds store.
Cover for documents
Everything you store needs cover, through our contents protection or your own policy. For documents, the replacement value is the cost of physically replacing or reprinting them, not the value of the information in them, so keep a digital or duplicate copy of any file you couldn’t work without.
To see how a unit could work for your archive, visit our document storage page, get a price online, or call us on 0800 2545585.
Related questions
- Who can see when I come and go from my unit?
- Can I share access to my storage unit with a family member or colleague?
- How much contents cover do I need, and can I change it later?
- How long must UK businesses keep records, and can they stay in storage?
Further reading
- legislation.gov.uk: UK GDPR, Article 5 (principles relating to processing of personal data)