About The National Archives

The non-ministerial department responsible for public records policy, archival preservation and documentary heritage.

The National Archives preserves and provides access to archival public records, maintains archival standards and expertise, supports documentary heritage and provides strategic leadership for archives.

It is not the Cabinet Office Government Knowledge and Information Management Profession and does not run each department’s live current-records system. Departments remain responsible for their active records until lawful transfer.

No HRC predecessor is asserted merely because an older records channel, archive folder, documentation team or staff archive existed. Historical records may be transferred from those arrangements without treating the former holder as the institutional predecessor of The National Archives.