---
title: Documents, versions and expiry dates
canonical_url: https://hrhive.co.uk/product/documents/
content_type: product
summary: HRHive files each document against a person or the organisation, keeps every version and tracks expiry and review dates. Employee uploads wait for you to check them, and every document has its own setting for who can read it.
audiences:
  - employer
  - adviser
topic: employment-records
jurisdiction: uk
status: published
last_updated: 2026-10-05
---

# Every document filed against the right person, with the dates that matter

> HRHive files each document against a person or the organisation, keeps every version and tracks expiry and review dates. Employee uploads wait for you to check them, and every document has its own setting for who can read it.

## What problem does this solve?

Documents gather wherever they were last sent. A passport copy lives in an email, the signed contract is on somebody's desktop, and the insurance certificate expired last month without anyone noticing. When an employee replaces a document, nobody is sure which copy is current. When someone asks to see a file, you have to go and find it.

## What HRHive does

- Files each document against a person or the organisation. There are 38 built-in document types, 26 for people and 12 for the company, and you can add your own.
- Keeps every version. A new version joins the history and the earlier ones stay available.
- Tracks issue, expiry and review dates for the documents that have them, such as driving licences, professional memberships, insurance certificates and sponsor licences, and feeds those dates to reminders.
- Asks employees for documents and checks what comes back. A request goes by email with a secure link, and whatever the employee uploads waits in a review queue until you approve it.
- Lets you choose who can read each document: HR only, HR and the employee, or HR, the employee and their manager. Sensitive types, such as sick notes, bank detail forms and identity and right to work documents, are restricted to the roles that need them.
- Keeps company documents beside people's: insurance, a sponsor licence, a lease, a fire risk assessment. Each has its own dates and reminders.
- Locks signed documents. A document signed in HRHive cannot be replaced, renamed or deleted, and a change needs a variation.
- Delivers files through signed links that expire, and records downloads in the audit log.

> **What HRHive does not do with documents**
>
> HRHive does not read what is inside a document. Expiry dates come from what you enter, or from the file name when you import a folder. It keeps every version, but it does not rebuild which documents were current on a particular past date.

## How it works

1. **Upload against a person or the organisation.** Choose the type, add the dates that type needs and say who can see it. Files can be up to 25 MB.
2. **Or ask for it.** Request a document from an employee. They get an email with a secure link and upload it themselves.
3. **Check what comes in.** An employee's upload waits for review. Approve it after checking its expiry date, or return it with a note saying what to fix.
4. **Replace, do not overwrite.** Upload a new version and the earlier one stays in the history.
5. **Let the dates do the work.** Expiry and review dates feed reminders. By default HRHive also asks the employee for a replacement 60 days before an expiry, or 90 days for visas and passports.
6. **Archive or delete.** Archiving stops a document counting towards compliance and reminders but keeps it on file. Deleting needs a reason, which is recorded, and a signed document cannot be deleted.

## What you see

The Documents page has four views: Employee documents, Company documents, Awaiting review and Expiring. Search by title or employee, narrow by section and, for expiring documents, choose those already expired or the next 30, 60 or 90 days. On a person's record, the Documents tab groups their files by section.

**Documents** — Expiring in the next 90 days

- Driving Licence, Priya Nair — Expires in 30 days (4 Nov 2026)
- CSCS card, James Patel — Expires in 38 days (12 Nov 2026)
- Employers' Liability Insurance, Company document — Expires in 43 days (17 Nov 2026)
- Professional Membership, Hannah Doyle — Expires in 87 days (31 Dec 2026)

Reminders go out before each date, and employees can be asked for a replacement.

## The record it creates

Each document records its type, its dates, who can see it and where it came from. Every version is kept with its file name, size and upload date, and each stored file carries a SHA-256 fingerprint. HRHive records uploads, replacements, review decisions, archiving and deletion, including the reason for a deletion, and it records downloads too.

When you need to show what you hold, print a document index for a person, a checklist of the documents each person is still missing, or a personnel file with copies of the documents grouped by section.

_Example output (demo data): an Employee Record: personal details, employment terms, documents held, right to work status and history in one printable file._

## Who can do what

Who can read a document depends on the person it belongs to, its type and its visibility setting.

| Role | What they can do |
| --- | --- |
| Owner and admin | Upload, edit, replace, archive, delete and review documents for anyone, including sick notes and bank detail forms. Manage company documents. |
| HR | Upload, edit, replace, archive, delete and review documents for anyone, and manage company documents. Request documents from employees. Bank detail forms stay with payroll and administrators. |
| Compliance | Upload, edit, replace and review documents for anyone, and manage company documents. See identity and right to work documents, but not sick notes or bank detail forms. Cannot delete an employee's documents. |
| Payroll / Finance | Read documents for everyone, including bank detail forms. Identity, right to work and medical documents are not shown to them. |
| Manager | Read documents for the people who report to them, only where a document is marked as visible to managers. Can ask an employee for a document. |
| Employee | See their own documents that are marked visible to them, and upload a document of their own. What they upload waits for HR to check it before it joins their record. |
| Auditor (read only) | Read documents, including company documents, without changing anything. Medical and bank documents are not shown. |
| Adviser invited into the organisation | Works with whichever role you give them. An HR consultant given the HR role manages documents as HR does. |

## What happens next

Expiry dates drive reminders at 90, 60, 30, 14 and 7 days before and on the day, with escalation if nothing is done, and each person chooses whether to get emails immediately, daily or weekly. Documents that are about to expire or have expired appear on Home and in the Expiring view. The Missing documents, Expiring documents, Expired documents and Company document expiry reports list the gaps and can be exported. You choose which documents every employee should have in Settings, and HRHive starts with an employment contract and right to work evidence. Signed documents come from [Contracts and signing](https://hrhive.co.uk/product/contracts/).

## Frequently asked questions

### What happens when a document is about to expire?

By default HRHive reminds the right people 90, 60, 30, 14 and 7 days before an expiry and on the day, and asks the employee for a replacement 60 days before (90 days for visas and passports). The employee uploads a new one, you review it, and approving it replaces the old document, which stays in the history. If nothing happens, HRHive escalates. Owners, admins and HR can change the schedule in Settings.

### Can employees see the documents I hold about them?

Only the ones you choose. Every document has a "Who can see it" setting: HR only, HR and the employee, or HR, the employee and their manager. Contracts, payslips and P60s start as visible to the employee. Others, including identity documents and sick notes, start as HR only.

### What can I upload?

PDFs, images (including phone photos), Word and Excel files, and a few other common formats such as RTF, CSV, text and email files, up to 25 MB each. HRHive checks what is inside each file rather than trusting its name, and rejects a file that does not match.

## About this page

- Last updated: 5 October 2026

## Related

**In HRHive**

- [Employee records and personnel files](https://hrhive.co.uk/product/employee-records/)
- [Reminders and expiry dates](https://hrhive.co.uk/product/reminders/)
- [Contracts, written statements and signing](https://hrhive.co.uk/product/contracts/)
- [Evidence packs and printable records](https://hrhive.co.uk/product/evidence-packs/)
- [Compliance overview](https://hrhive.co.uk/product/compliance/)
- [Employee self-service](https://hrhive.co.uk/product/employee-self-service/)

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