Checks & records
What is document expiry?
Document expiry is the point at which a check, qualification or permission ceases to be current. A compliance file complete at placement can be non-compliant weeks later without anything changing.
Use this diagram+
Free to use on your own site, in training material or in a handout, as long as the credit link stays on it. Paste this where you want the diagram to appear.
<figure>
<img src="https://agencyoptix.co.uk/glossary/expiry/diagram.svg" alt="document expiry — diagram from AgencyOptix" width="880" height="620" loading="lazy">
<figcaption>
<a href="https://agencyoptix.co.uk/glossary/expiry">What is document expiry?</a> — diagram by
<a href="https://agencyoptix.co.uk">AgencyOptix</a>
</figcaption>
</figure>This is the difference between a file and a live record. Documents expire at different rates, and a file is only compliant on the day everything in it is current.
Expiry dates held inside documents are invisible. They need to be extracted into something that raises them in advance, with enough lead time to actually renew.
Workers on long assignments are the exposure. A file checked at placement and not revisited across a two-year assignment has almost certainly lapsed in some respect.
What goes wrong in practice
- Dates held in the documents rather than in a system.
- Alerts set with no lead time, so renewal is always urgent.
- Long assignments never re-checked after placement.