Traceability and compliance
When someone asks you to delete their data
What can be deleted, what must be kept, and why that is not a contradiction.
The request arrives and the instinctive reaction is one of two: delete everything quickly, or delete nothing out of fear. Both are wrong. The right answer separates what must be kept from what there was no reason to hold.
The three categories
| What it is | What to do |
|---|---|
| Data you hold with no current reason | Delete it. It is what the request asks for and what you should not have |
| Data with a legal retention obligation | Keep it, and explain why and until when |
| Evidence of a signature or delivery | Keep it while the document has effects |
Important
A signature is not deleted. This is not a technical limitation: a signature that could be made to disappear at the signer's request would prove nothing, and then no signed document would hold. That gets explained; it is not negotiated.
What to do, in order
- 1
Check who is asking
That it is the person the data concerns. An erasure request is also an impersonation vector.
- 2
Talk to whoever handles data protection
Someone in your company is responsible for this, even if the title says otherwise. There are deadlines.
- 3
Separate the three categories
With the retention policy in front of you, not from memory.
- 4
Reply with reasons
What was deleted, what is kept and why. A reasoned reply closes nearly every request.
Watch out
If there is a live claim or litigation touching that data, delete nothing without checking. Deleting material relevant to open proceedings is a bigger problem than the one you were solving.
Worth knowing
The best way to answer these requests well is not to have kept too much. A retention policy genuinely applied turns this into a ten-minute task.
›Is this legal advice?
No. It is the practical criterion; the specific deadlines and duties come from your adviser.
›How long do I have to respond?
There are legal deadlines and they are short. Which is why step one is telling the right person.
›Is my deletion recorded?
Yes, and that helps: it is what shows you honoured the request.
A real case
The situation
A former employee asks for all their data to be deleted.
What you do
- The ID copy, held for no reason, is deleted
- Their signed contract and payslips are kept, with their legal period
- They receive a reply explaining both
What you get
The request closes without conflict, and an identity document that was never needed stops being held.
The situation
A deletion request arrives and nobody knows where everything sits.
What you do
- Locates where that person appears
What you get
The request is handled without searching everywhere.
The situation
Something is deleted and a copy remains elsewhere.
What you do
- Reviews every location before confirming
What you get
The deletion is complete.
The situation
Something that had to be retained is deleted.
What you do
- Checks the policy before deleting
What you get
What can be deleted is told from what cannot.
The situation
There is no record the request was handled.
What you do
- Records the request and what was done
What you get
The response is demonstrable.
The situation
The request reaches somebody who cannot resolve it.
What you do
- Writes down who handles it
What you get
The request does not sit waiting.
This article answers
- an employee asks me to delete their data
- right to erasure what do i do
- delete a supplier's data
- can i delete a signed document