Records Office staff must deal promptly and accurately with many different types of correspondence. Incoming correspondence will reach the Records Office in a number of different ways. Some will come through the traditional mail, some by hand, and some by telex, fax or electronic mail. There will also be differences in the way in which items are addressed. Some will be addressed to a ministry, department or agency and some to individuals either by name or by title of office. Other items may be inadequately or illegibly addressed. A smaller number of items will bear security or privacy markings, such as ‘confidential’ or ‘personal.’ Some mail may contain cheques, money or other valuables which will need to be carefully recorded and accounted for in the Records Office.

 

 

 

 

 

 

is left unopened and is placed in the appropriate dip/tray for further sorting and delivery. All offices should have at least one dip/tray identified for incoming mail into which unopened regular external mail is deposited.

 

Rules for handling ‘confidential’ and ‘personal’ letters and classified documents should be followed always. (See Also : Handling Classified Documents and Files). All other mail should be opened and datestamped as soon as it is received by the Records Office. During this process letters should be kept in a box file or other suitable container.

 

Slit open envelopes across the top. Care must be taken to ensure the contents of letters are not damaged when the envelopes are slit. Many enclosures are received loose or separated from their covering documents. Attach such enclosures to the relevant documents, taking care not to damage cheques, certificates or similar items. All enclosures must be noted on the covering documents. This is particularly important when the enclosures are valuable or are personal papers.

 

Certificates, deeds and other legal documents require special care. Place such documents in separate envelopes, noting the contents and the reference number of the file on the outside. Record these in a register or Valuables Book and store in a safe place. Cross‐reference on the file.

 

 

 

 

After the mail has been opened and all enclosures accounted for, each letter or memorandum must be registered by a designated officer in the Inward Correspondence Register. All columns of the Register must be completed. The details to be entered initially are:

 

 

The Head of the Records Office or a designated officer will decide how items are to be handled. For example:‐

 

 

Officers on the circulation list should attend to the documents in the mail folder promptly. They should mark those letters that they would like to deal with personally or that they would like referred to their staff by indicating to whom they are to be sent. All such directions should be initialled and dated by the officer making them. Letters may not be removed from the mail folder. All must be returned to the Records Office for filing.

 

Where there are more than one circulation of mail each day, correspondence delivered after a circulation has been dispatched, should be held over and included in the subsequent batch, except for any that are marked ‘urgent’ which must be delivered immediately. Records Offices receiving mail once a day only, may find it necessary to have a second circulation to deal with hand delivered mail.

 

When the mail folder is returned to the Records Office the documents should be placed immediately on the appropriate files. Before the files are passed to the nominated action officers, Records Office staff should note on the relevant File Transit Sheet the name or title of the action officer and the date of transit (See ‐ Section 7). The following information should be recorded in the Inward Correspondence Register:

 

 

The file must be delivered to the relevant action officers without delay.

 

 

Post containing or likely to contain, cheques, bank drafts, money orders or other valuable items must be carefully safeguarded from the time it is received.

 

A written record of all postal remittances received each day must be prepared (in addition to the Inward Correspondence Register) and signed by the post opener. A Valuables Book or Remittance Register is used for this purpose. Records Office staff should record the following information in the Remittance Register:

 

 

Each sheet of the register must be serially numbered. Cash received should be counted and noted in the register as well as on the accompanying document by the post‐opener. Erasures and pencils entries must not be made in the register. A wrong entry may be cancelled only by ruling it through and correcting it with a new entry that leaves the original entry legible. All such alterations must be initialled jointly by the post‐opener and the supervising officer.

 

Examine all payable instruments (cheques, money orders, postal orders, bank drafts and so on) to ensure that:‐

 

 

If the purpose of which a remittance was sent cannot be identified, include it with the daily banking and take action to obtain the necessary information as quickly as possible.

 

In cases where money apparently has been omitted or differs in amount from that stated on documents received by post, a note must be made on the document jointly by the post‐opener and the supervising officer. The person who sent the remittance is then advised at once that there is an error. The cheque may be banked in the meantime.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The circulation of ‘classified’ documents should be strictly limited to those officers who need them for their efficient performance of their duties. They should have appropriate clearances.