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Tick We must keep them beyond this period under law in the Terms section when you create the request, name the law and enter its period, and your client's documents are then deleted only when that further period ends.

A law period is the second stage of the retention rule. It starts when the first period you promised ends. You can add it only while you create the request, because the rule is frozen once the request is sent.

  1. 1 Open a new request and go to the Terms section.
  2. 2 Under Keep the documents for, set the first period. Choose 1 year, 2 years, 5 years, Other or As long as they're a client.
  3. 3 Tick We must keep them beyond this period under law.
  4. 4 Under Under which law, name the law. The name takes 3 to 200 characters.
  5. 5 Under For how long after that (up to 10 years), enter a number and choose Days or Years. Both fields are required once the box is ticked.
  6. 6 Choose Create request.

We record the law and its period as you enter them. Your client reads both in the notice before they upload anything. The summary line reads "then a further 5 years as the law requires", with your own period in place of 5. The notice also tells them that a withdrawal does not delete records the law requires you to keep.

For a fixed first period, the documents are deleted when the law's period ends. That date is the day your client sent them, plus the first period, plus the law's period. The law's period counts a whole number of years as calendar years. Neither period can be longer than 10 years.

For As long as they're a client, the law's period starts on the day you mark the relationship as ended. Without a law period, documents on that request are deleted in the next daily run after the end date.

A request with a law period never opens a row in your Retention queue. You are not prompted before the first period ends and you cannot renew or keep from the queue. The documents are deleted when the law's period ends. A request that only records consent for documents you hold is the exception. Its row opens 15 days before the law's period ends and asks you to confirm you have deleted them.

If your client withdraws consent during the first period, the law's period starts on the day they withdraw. The withdrawal is recorded and the documents stay until the law's period ends.

For example

Amaltas Deshmukh & Co sends Anita Deshpande a request on 1 July 2027 with a first period of 1 year and a law period of 5 years. Her documents arrive the same day. The first period is 365 days, so it ends on 30 June 2028, and the law's period then runs 5 calendar years to 30 June 2033. That is the day her documents are deleted. If she withdraws on 1 March 2028, the law's period starts that day instead. Her documents are then deleted on 1 March 2033.