We are often asked how long organisations should retain their financial records, so here is some short guidance: 

What are the requirements for all charities?

All charities must:

• keep accounting records – these records (eg cash books, invoices, receipts, Gift Aid records etc) must be retained for at least 6 years (or at least 3 years in the case of charitable companies) – where Gift Aid payments are received records will need to be maintained for 6 years with details of any substantial donors and to identify ‘tainted charity donations’ in accordance with HMRC guidance

More details can be found here

Another useful document can be found here – this also includes details of payroll document retention, employee details etc