Data Retention Schedule

Keeping data forever because deleting it is effort is the most common privacy failure there is. This schedule sets a period for every category, with the reason attached, so that the default is deletion rather than accumulation.

The schedule

• Enquiry record, including everything you typed into the case review form. Twenty four months from your last contact with us. Reason: to recognise a returning matter, and to evidence what was scoped, agreed and declined if that is ever disputed.
• Case reference and the fact that an enquiry existed. Six years. Reason: limitation periods for contract claims. This is a stub, not the file. It records that a matter existed and when, and nothing about its contents.
• Engagement contracts, scopes, invoices and payment records. Seven years. Reason: tax and accounting obligations, which override a deletion request while they run.
• Correspondence about a live matter. For the matter, plus twenty four months. Reason: the same evidential reason as the enquiry record.
• Account credentials, where a route required them. Deleted at the close of the matter, and never held in the enquiry database at any point. Reason: there is no legitimate reason to hold them one day longer than the route needs. You should also change the password yourself at close, and we will remind you in writing.
• Identity documents, where an official platform submission required one. Deleted once the submission is accepted or refused. Reason: nothing justifies retaining them beyond the submission they were provided for.
• Server request logs, including IP address. Thirty days or less, per our provider's retention. Reason: security, abuse prevention and diagnosing faults.
• Consent records, meaning the fact that you accepted or declined measurement and when. Stored in your own browser, not on our servers, and cleared whenever you clear this site's storage or use the footer control.
• Analytics measurement data, if you accepted it. Fourteen months at Google, which is the shortest retention Google offers, after which it is deleted automatically. Reason: we only need it to compare one season to the last.
• Complaint records. Six years from resolution. Reason: to show a pattern, or its absence, if a regulator or a court asks.

What happens at the end of a period

The record is deleted, not archived to somewhere quieter. Where a backup still holds a copy, it is not restored into use, it is overwritten on the ordinary backup cycle, and it is not searched or referred to in the meantime.

When a period is extended

A period is extended only where we are legally required to retain something, or where we need it to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim that is live or reasonably anticipated. We keep the minimum necessary, we keep nothing else, and if you have asked us to delete we will tell you what was kept and why.

Asking for earlier deletion

You do not have to wait for a period to run out. Ask, and we delete, unless one of the exceptions above genuinely applies. Our Data Rights page sets out how to ask and how long we take.

Contact

The desk is reached by email at sales@goldlabelmedia.net. We do not run an email support queue, and no one from Gold Label Media will ever contact you first asking for a password, a two factor code or a payment to an individual.