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Distributed Permanent Archive at Sheffield/Liverpool/Kew

Hillsborough Panel · Hillsborough: The Report of the Hillsborough Independent Panel · Issued 12 September 2012 · Addressed to: The National Archives

Government responseNo response yet

DeliveryNo statement from The National Archives found

Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry

●Inquiry recommendation

The Panel proposes a Distributed Permanent Archive of the original material at Sheffield Archives and Liverpool Record Office and for central government records at The National Archives at Kew. Such a Distributed Archive is in keeping with the nature of the records and the services which the three archives can best provide and which they are willing to do.

Hillsborough Panel, Hillsborough: The Report of the Hillsborough Independent Panel · 12 Sep 2012 Source PDF →

Published evidence summary

AI-generated evidence summary

The National Archives has provided no response on the record, while the Independent Office for Police Conduct stated in September 2026 that its legacy team is working on the return of historical material alongside a complete audit trail (Independent Office for Police Conduct, Sep 2026). It had previously reported in July 2025 that an initial return of records to the Liverpool Record Office was planned for August 2025, with remaining materials to follow to their respective destinations (Independent Office for Police Conduct, Jul 2025).

AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 26 Sep 2026.

About this summary
This recommendation applies across many organisations. The record above reflects central policy activity; adoption in individual organisations may vary.

Government response

●No formal government response recorded

The Index has not yet recorded a verbatim government response to this recommendation.

Delivery

No statement on delivery from The National Archives has been found in the sources searched. This is separate from the response above.

What other bodies have found

In their own words. These do not change the delivery statement above.

●Independent Office for Police Conduct · 19 Sep 2026

We have been the custodians of the historical Hillsborough Archive for more than a decade, the majority of which came from Sheffield and Liverpool Archives, The National Archives and the Home Office. It has been professionally maintained by archive specialists and kept in a secure, controlled environment in our Warrington office. Our dedicated Legacy team is working on the return of this material together with a complete audit trail for its use while in our custody.

From: About the Hillsborough investigations

Site note: This is the Independent Office for Police Conduct’s own account of its work, not a government response. The page carries no publication date; it was read on 19 September 2026 and the row is dated to that reading.

Earlier findings (1)

●Independent Office for Police Conduct · 1 Jul 2025

As our investigations are now coming to an end, our dedicated Legacy team has been preparing for the return of this material. This is in line with one of the recommendations of the HIP, for the materials to be permanently returned to Sheffield Archives, LRO, and to the TNA at Kew.

The first return of material is planned to take place at the end of August to the LRO and the rest will follow to their respective homes.

From: Stakeholder Update July 2025

Site note: This is the Independent Office for Police Conduct’s own account of its work, not a government response. The IOPC describes the first return of material as planned for the end of August 2025. Its stakeholder updates of October and November 2025 do not mention the archive, and no archive has confirmed receipt. The update is dated only “July 2025”, so the row carries that month and shows it as 1 July 2025; the IOPC’s publications library gives its publication date as 31 July 2025.

How this page is built

The recommendation and the government responses are verbatim from primary documents. Delivery statements and other bodies' findings are shown in their own words, each with its source. The summary is written by this site and labelled as such. The Index does not paraphrase sources or characterise intent; it records what has been published.