In response to the establishment of the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements, the National Archives issued a disposal freeze on 5 May 2020. The disposal freeze suspends National Archives' permissions for the destruction of records that may be required by the Royal Commission and any consequent Government action. It will remain in force until otherwise advised by the National Archives.

Relevant records and any associated drafts and working papers cannot be destroyed using any agency-specific or general records authorities or through normal administrative practice (NAP). The only exception to this is General Records Authority 31 (GRA 31), which should continue to be used to destroy digitised source records, as long as the conditions and exclusions of GRA 31 are abided by. 

Details of the agencies and records affected are available in the disposal freeze (PDF 170KB).

Any questions in relation to this disposal freeze should be directed to the National Archives via the Agency Service Centre.