Weeding Out 18,600 Bundles Before 31 March
The record room holds 18,600 disposed bundles. Category A (retain 12 years): 7,440; Category B (7 years): 6,510; Category C (5 years): 4,650. As on 1 April 2025 the destruction cut-offs are: A disposed before 1 April 2013, B before 1 April 2018, C before 1 April 2020. The record-keeper reports that 62.5% of A, 70% of B and 84% of C fall before their cut-offs. Of that pooled figure, 780 bundles are linked to pending matters and 312 carry a permanent or landmark flag; both classes must be excluded. Four record assistants do the weeding, each clearing 45 bundles a day in a six-hour day, with 22 working days a month. A 5% random sample must be re-verified by the Record Officer at 30 bundles a day before shredding. The Registrar (Judicial)'s sanction is required before any bundle leaves the rack. Work starts on 1 December and the shredder contractor's slot closes on 31 March.
1. Compute the number of bundles eligible for destruction after exclusions, and the assistant-days the work will need. Show every step.
Read the worked answer
Step 1 - bundles before cut-off.
- A: 7,440 × 0.625 = 4,650
- B: 6,510 × 0.70 = 4,557
- C: 4,650 × 0.84 = 3,906
- Pooled total = 4,650 + 4,557 + 3,906 = 13,113
Step 2 - exclusions. 780 linked + 312 flagged = 1,092. Eligible = 13,113 − 1,092 = 12,021 bundles.
Step 3 - assistant-days. 12,021 ÷ 45 = 267.13, rounded up to 268 assistant-days. Round up because a part-day still occupies a person for the whole day.
Step 4 - verification load. 5% of 12,021 = 601.05, so at least 602 bundles to be safe; at 30 a day that is 21 Record Officer-days, running parallel to weeding rather than after it.
Step 5 - check. 268 ÷ 4 assistants = 67 working days each. Sanity check: 67 × 4 × 45 = 12,060, just above the 12,021 target.
2. Can four assistants finish before the contractor's slot closes? State the slack and the single factor most likely to defeat the schedule, and recommend a control.
Read the worked answer
Capacity. Working days at 22 a month: December 22, January 22, February 22, March 22 = 88 working days.
Requirement. 67 working days per assistant.
Slack. 88 − 67 = 21 working days, a buffer of roughly 24%. On paper the schedule holds, provided sanction issues in the first week of December and the contractor slot is booked in parallel, not after weeding.
The factor that can defeat it. Discoveries during weeding of bundles linked to pending matters. Each 1% increase in linked bundles adds about 131 bundles (1% of 13,113), roughly three assistant-days; a 5% error consumes the entire buffer. A single assistant absent throughout also breaks it: capacity falls to 3 × 88 = 264 assistant-days against 268 needed.
Controls. Start with the A and B categories, where volumes are highest and indexes most reliable; keep a running daily count against the 268 target; route any newly found 'linked' bundle immediately to the Record Officer so the sanction list is corrected before shredding; and place a written request for a fifth assistant or sanctioned overtime on file at the start, not at the end, of February. Keep the sample verification contemporaneous, since bundles cannot be shredded on an unverified list.
3. Halfway through, a bundle on the destruction list turns out to be the subject of a live RTI application and a contempt case reference. What do you do?
Read the worked answer
Stop and withhold. It is no longer a disposed record for retention purposes.
- Physically segregate the bundle and return it to the rack with a red HOLD tag; do not leave it in the shredding trolley.
- Enter it in the destruction register: serial, bundle number, reason for withholding, date and Record Officer's initials. The sanction list must be corrected in writing before shredding proceeds.
- Inform the Record Officer in writing, who informs the Registrar (Judicial), since the sanction was granted on a list that is now wrong.
- Before the rest of that batch moves forward, search the computerised index for other bundles of the same case or connected cases, and for any other bundle covered by a pending RTI or contempt reference.
- Do not shred and later 'reconstruct' - destroyed court records cannot be recreated, and shredding a record under a live reference invites contempt.
The lesson for the schedule: build a pre-shred check against the pending-matters list into the last step, not the first, because references are added right up to the day of destruction.