NSW Recordkeeping Maturity Continues to Improve in 2026
State Records NSW conducts its Recordkeeping Monitoring Exercise (RME) every two years to assess how public offices are meeting their recordkeeping obligations under the State Records Act 1998. As part of the exercise, organisations use the Records Management Assessment Tool (RMAT) to self-assess the maturity of their records and information management practices.
Participation increased significantly in 2026, with 321 public offices completing the exercise, compared with 289 in 2024. This lifted the overall participation rate from 77% to 85%.
The results also indicate incremental improvement across the jurisdiction. The overall records management maturity score increased to 2.94 out of 5, compared with 2.93 in 2024, while the overall compliance rate rose from 68.57% to 69.85%.
Importantly, nine assessment areas now have an overall maturity score above Level 3. These include information risk, senior responsible officer arrangements, records and information policy, capability and capacity, security and protection, systems design, creation and capture, records storage, and access directions.
However, the findings also identify areas where public offices continue to face challenges. The three lowest-scoring assessment areas were outsourcing and contracts, performance monitoring, and transfer.
For records and information management professionals, the results provide a useful benchmark for assessing organisational performance and identifying priorities for improvement. They also reinforce the importance of looking beyond policies and systems to areas such as third-party arrangements, measurable performance and the long-term management and transfer of records.
With the jurisdiction-wide maturity score sitting just below Level 3, the 2026 results suggest NSW public offices are moving in the right direction, but there remains considerable opportunity to strengthen recordkeeping maturity and compliance.
The State of recordkeeping in NSW 2026 report, along with reports from previous monitoring exercises, is available from State Records NSW.