How long records must be kept

Two different clocks, and they are frequently confused.

Retention obligations in this sector typically distinguish between records of qualifications issued, which are kept for a long period, and assessment evidence, which is kept for a shorter one.

The shorter clock generally runs from completion rather than from enrolment or from the date of the assessment, which changes the date materially for a learner who took two years.

Funding contracts and state requirements frequently impose longer periods than the national standards, and where several apply the longest governs. Providers holding funding from more than one source may have several.

Records must be retrievable as well as retained, and a provider whose evidence sits in a system it no longer licenses has a retention problem regardless of whether the data technically exists.

Because the periods differ by jurisdiction, by funding source and over time, the applicable requirement should be read directly from the standards and each funding agreement rather than taken from a general figure.

There is a further retention subtlety worth knowing, which is that the obligation attaches to the evidence rather than to the format. Migrating to a new system does not discharge it, and a provider that cannot open its own archived files has retained nothing that matters.