I needed someone to hold my hand. When you have a bad day and you just want to pick up to phone and call someone... INQUEST was always there for me. I really appreciate all the help and direction you have given me. – Family member
Your personal paperwork is made up of documents or letters that give you information about:
- money (e.g. bank statements)
- bills
- insurance
- benefits / allowances
- health
- housing (e.g. mortgage accounts or rent book)
- jobs (e.g. contracts or code of conduct)
- school / college
- personal information (e.g. passport, will or driving licence).
Other paperwork you may want to keep could include things that are relevant to the inquest, or any further campaigning or support networks you are involved in:
- official documents relating to the investigation or inquest e.g. reports from the IPCC or PPO, medical reports etc
- coroner’s office reports and letters, or communication from the funeral director etc
- records of formal meetings (minutes)
- notes from meetings with advice workers, lawyers, (they should always confirm their advice and costs in writing and make sure you ask for this)
- investigators etc
- records of any meetings held with other officials like local councillors, MPs, medical experts, journalists, community groups etc
Most of this information will be in paper form, but increasingly it could be in the form of electronic documents (e-mail with attachments, research documents etc) which you store on your PC or laptop. If you want to keep a record of this information, or you want to use the information in the future, it’s important to store it in a way that keeps things organised and easy to access. To save money on printing costs, you can ask for documents to be copied and sent to you.
Tips for organising paperwork
- Filing your paperwork gives you a record of what you have done in the past and keeping information helps you organise your personal life. For example, you might keep information on your health so you are able to discuss medical matters with your doctor.
- Keeping letters, minutes from meetings and records of people you have spoken to can help you stay on top of things, and help you keep up to date with facts. Legal matters are reliant on facts and it’s important that you store and pay attention to official documents carefully.
- You might already have a good system for storing your paperwork. If not, you could go out and buy some cardboard folders. They can be bought cheaply from a newsagent’s or stationery shop.
- You can keep your paperwork organised by giving each folder a title that matches the paperwork you want to save, for example, bank statements, mobile phone bills, or gas and electricity bills.
- Do the same for files you want to keep on your PC or laptop – give each file a name that best describes the contents and when you receive e-mails or documents, save them to that file.
- The length of time you keep paperwork is up to you. Some personal information like bills and bank statements could be kept for as long as five years, for other information you’re not sure about, then keep things for at least a year. Documents and papers relating to the inquest and any investigation should be kept safe for as long as you can store them.
Remember there is no single system that suits everyone, use the one that suits you best. Some people like to store things alphabetically, others by subject (e.g. bank or hospital), some by theme (letters to and from my child’s school, or letters from the council). Whichever system you choose, review it from time to time to see how well it’s working.
