Record keeping
It is important to consider how the information you gather will be recorded, stored and shared.
Keeping up-to-date records of all the young people and adults involved in your club is essential. It is also important to know when you should erase personal date.
Below you will find guidance on:
- What records you should keep and for how long
- How to protect personal data
YAC HQ provides proformas for all the records you need to keep.
Your club records should include:
For your members:
| Document | To be updated | To be kept for |
| Membership Form | Annually | Until updated / 3 years |
| Photography Consent Form | Annually | 10 years |
| Any additional & necessary Permission Forms for individual session (e.g. group visits) | When required | 3 years |
| Individual support plan (where required) | If anything changes | 3 years |
For your volunteers:
| Document | To be updated | To be kept for |
| Emergency contact form | Annually | Until updated / End of volunteering |
| Photography Consent Form | Annually | 10 years |
| Individual support plan (where required) | If anything changes | 3 years |
For your club:
| Document | To be updated | To be kept for |
| A register of who has attended each meeting, including members, volunteers and anyone else present. | Every session | 3 years |
| Club Proforma, which shows who has current disclosure checks and valid First Aid certificates | Annually | 3 years |
| Completed Accident or Incident Forms | When required | 3 years |
| Session plans and risk assessments | Every session | 10 years |
| Current YAC insurance certificate. This will be sent to you each April (CBA-managed branches only) | Annually | 1 year |
| Club bank account details and financial record | — | 7 years |
| Previous years’ financial and annual reports | Annually | 7 years |
You may find it useful for one member of your team to take on the role of club administrator with responsibility for maintaining and storing all of these records. Alternatively, you might decide that different leaders take different responsibilities.
Discuss it with your team and choose what is right for your branch.
Protecting personal information
It is essential that your club records, especially those containing children’s personal information, are kept securely and only used by formally approved YAC volunteers for the purposes of running your club. It is best for one individual to be responsible for keeping records, who can keep necessary records on their person during sessions and store them securely (for example, in a locked drawer) outside of sessions. If any of your club records are kept on a computer, please make sure that they are protected by a password.
You should never use your members’ or volunteers’ details for anything other than YAC business, or pass them on to any person or organisation without permission. When members leave your club, you should dispose of their membership forms securely by shredding them. If you do not have the facilities to do this, you can send them to YAC HQ and we will do it for you. Some clubs have membership secretaries who do not attend club sessions: if this is the case that person must still apply to be a Branch Assistant through the normal application procedure before they can access members’ personal details.