New Burdens Project
Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service secured £73000 in 2022 from The National Archives’ (TNA) New Burdens fund to catalogue and improve access to certain public records under The Public Records Act. The act requires certain public bodies to transfer records of historical value for permanent preservation to their archive services appointed as ‘places of deposit’.
Following a change in legislation since 1 January 2015 specified local public sector organisations (magistrates’ courts, prisons, coroners’ courts, NHS bodies and some arms-length bodies including the Environment Agency) must now transfer records selected for permanent preservation to a place of deposit at 20 years instead of 30 years after their creation.
Adrian Gregson, County Archivist said ‘The New Burdens funding from The National Archives (TNA) recognised the impact that the reduction of the traditional 30-year closure period on archives would have on some local authority Record Offices. It was a welcome boost to assist in making available Public Records in local Places of Deposit. A Place of Deposit Record Office is one Accredited by TNA to hold Public Records and Worcestershire Archives has held that status since its inception in 1947.’
There is a 10-year transition period so, for 2016, selected records up to and including 1988 must be transferred. This reduces by a year during each year of the transition period until 2024. The New Burdens funding compensates local authorities for the increased activities that places of deposit may experience due to the change in legislation during the transition period. The money is designed to cover additional costs of processing higher volumes of public records.
Existing Powick hospital records held in our archives. Further hospital patient files are set to be catalogued as part of the project. Whilst records from the late 19th century to early 20th century are open, due to the Data Protection Act, any hospital records containing sensitive personal information less than 100 years old are closed to protect living individuals. © WAAS
Magistrate court registers held with us in one of our strong rooms. Magistrate court registers are one of the sets of public records being catalogued during the project. Due to the sensitive personal information that they contain, court records less than 75 years old are closed under the Data Protection Act. © WAAS
Links to the project blogs are at the end of this article and examples of other public records being catalogued as part of the project are shown below.
Cataloguing Public Records as part of the New Burdens Project
Archive collections have been transferred to us from various local public sector organisations including the magistrates’ courts, prisons, coroners’ courts, NHS bodies and arms-length bodies including the Environment Agency. We are very keen to demonstrate the impact that this cataloguing work has had on the accessibility of these records and the ways in which they can be used to researchers, including for the purposes of local and family history. However, some more recent records may still be restricted or closed as part of access and privacy legislation.
The New Burdens project includes cataloguing archives and retro-converting catalogues that so far, have only been available in hardcopy format. We will add the itemised listings to online catalogues, thus providing global access for researchers. Archives will be preserved and conserved where necessary in collaboration with our Conservator, as part of the process.
Worcestershire Marriage registers held on behalf of the Registrar General recently catalogued at Finding No: b004.0301 BA15987 © WAAS
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More information about the project can be found at New Burdens and what the New Burdens funding means for Local Authority Places of Deposit can be found here.
Project blogs: