In February 2022 we announced in For the Record  that we would be revising the General retention and disposal authority: local government (GA39). This was as a result of a request from our Board to assess all disposal authorities issued over 10 years ago and is also in accordance with our advice that disposal authorities issued over 10 years ago need to reviewed. GA39 was issued in 2011.

An exposure draft is now available for Councils and other public offices who use GA39 to provide feedback. Feedback is requested by 15 December 2023.

Main changes

  • reduction in the number of entries by combining those with similar scope and retention periods
  • removal of entries covering common administrative records such as finance, personnel, fleet management etc. as these are covered by the General retention and disposal authority: administrative records (GA28) which councils already have permission to use.
  • removal of outdated terms like OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH & SAFETY
  • inclusion of additional requirements, e.g. dangerous dogs
  • amendment of requirements where there has been legislative change, e.g. companion animals register 
  • removal of entries covering water and wastewater services so that water authorities can use the disposal authority used by Water NSW, Sydney Water etc (FA367). Rous County Council is already using FA367.
  • moving away from the Keywords for Council structure where a function had the same activities regardless of whether they were relevant in each case.
  • adoption of a 2-level rather than 3-level authority. Rather than 33 functions with many activities underneath, there are 37 lower level activiities. This means the numbering system is 1.1 rather than 1.1.1. Please note that is can be changed by adding Local Goverment as the top-level function so the numbering would be three-level.
  • removal of the entry requiring all pre-1920 local government records as State archives, regardless of their value. This was based on the assumption that pre-1920 records were scarce. However, State Records NSW has had to give ad hoc approval for the destruction of pre-1920 records for a number of Councils as they had many records pre-dating 1920 that did not warrant retention as State archives, e.g. operational financial records. .
  • the new authority will be a functional rather than a general authority, e.g. FAxxx rather than GA39 

Please note that while entries from GA39 may have been combined, the scope of classes, and in many cases, the retention periods, have not changed. Records that have already been sentenced using GA39 should not need to be reappraised. Where changes have been made, for example, to companion animal records as these are now managed by the Office of Local Government, the mapping tables will note what changes have been made.

This change will also not require Councils to change their Business Classification Scheme or file plans - although disposal authoeity references will need to be updated.

For the entries that have been removed as they are covered by GA28, the scope of the classes and retention periods have also not changed as these entries were copied from GA28. There are some exceptions, for example, GA28 requires the service files of Chief Executive Officers as State archives. This requirement does not exist in GA39.

It is recognised that the above changes will require resources to implement. However, GA39 has been in place since 2011 and we have received numerous comments from Councils, consultants and software vendors that it is too large. The numbers of GA39 are also out of order as to avoid changing numbers from GDA10 (the previous disposal authority), new activities had to be added at the end. For example, INFORMATION MANAGEMENT, Access is 16.1.0 but the next activity (INFORMATION MANAGEMENT - Compliance), is 16.11.0.

We are also aware that some Councils have not implemented GA39 and still have records linked to the former disposal authority (GDA10), or have not incorporated any disposal authorities into their document management systems.

Councils can gradually implement the new authority. Mapping tables will be provided to assist with re-sentencing but in fact most of the retention periods are not changing. Excel versions of GA28 are also available on our website if Councils wish to start using GA28 for records. 

To assist with the provision of feedback the following are provided:

Comments sought

Feedback is sought on the following:

  • any gaps in coverage. This does not include the records of childcare services and cemeteries as these are already covered by separate authorities.
  • the proposal to cover water and sewerage services under FA367 Water supply and wastewater services
  • proposed minimum retention periods
  • records required as State archives.
  • records of functions that are no longer carried out by local government (with the understanding that legacy records which are still extant need to be included
  • pre-1920 records that are not already required as State archives (minute books, assessment/rate books) that would be affected by removal of the requirement to retain all pre-1920 records as State archives
  • the numbering system. The alternative to a two - level structure is to make the first level a function called "Local government" with the activities in the draft part of the second level.

Feedback is requested by 15 December 2023 and can be emailed to govrec@staterecords.nsw.gov.au . Please also use that email for any enquiries about the exposure draft.

 

Published 16 October 2023