Contemporaneous notes

What a contemporaneous note is, and where the phrase comes from

A contemporaneous note is a record made during an event or as soon as practicable after it, while the writer's memory is still fresh.

• Police interviews. PACE Code C 2023, the police code on detention, treatment and questioning, says "An accurate record must be made of each interview", that a written record "must be made and completed during the interview" unless that is not practicable or would interfere with the interview, and that otherwise "it must be made as soon as practicable after its completion". Written interview records "must be timed and signed by the maker".
• Civil courts. Section 4 of the Civil Evidence Act 1995 lists, among the things a court may consider when weighing hearsay, whether a statement was made contemporaneously with the matters it describes.
• Criminal courts. Under section 139 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, a witness giving evidence may refresh their memory from a document they made or verified earlier, if they say it records their recollection at that time and their recollection "is likely to have been significantly better at that time than it is at the time of his oral evidence".
• Official guidance for note-takers. HMRC's Economic Crime Supervision Handbook, ECSH33025: Contemporaneous notes of meeting tells its officers: "Notes should be made in real time or as soon as possible after the event. The longer the time between an event and a notebook entry, the lesser the credibility of the notes."

Contemporaneous is a matter of degree, not a deadline. A note written during a meeting, or in the car park ten minutes later, qualifies. One written the following week, after talking it over with colleagues, is a retrospective account.

Where the expectation to record at the time comes from

For most readers, recording promptly is already a rule they work under.

• Care providers registered with the CQC. Regulation 17 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 requires systems that enable the registered person to "maintain securely an accurate, complete and contemporaneous record in respect of each service user". The CQC's guidance on Regulation 17: Good governance says those records must be "complete, legible, indelible, accurate and up to date, with no undue delays in adding and filing information, as far as is reasonable".
• Nurses, midwives and nursing associates. The NMC's The Code: professional standards of practice and behaviour requires them to "complete all records at the time or as soon as possible after an event, recording if the notes are written some time after the event".
• Schools and colleges in England. Paragraph 74 of Keeping children safe in education 2026 says "All concerns, discussions and decisions made, and the reasons for those decisions, should be recorded in writing". KCSIE does not use the word contemporaneous. This guide's reading, not KCSIE's wording, is that a record of what was discussed can only be accurate if it is written while the discussion is still remembered.
• Multi-agency child protection. Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026 says the lead practitioner for section 47 enquiries should make sure they "record agreed decisions in accordance with local recording procedures", and that "All agency decisions should be recorded, including a decision not to take further action and the reason for it."
• Employers handling discipline and grievances. The Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures says "Employers would be well advised to keep a written record of any disciplinary or grievances cases they deal with." Acas's guidance Disciplinary procedure, step 4: the hearing tells the employer to "make sure someone takes notes", and Investigations at work, step 5: if there are witnesses says of a meeting with a witness: "someone should take notes. At the end of the meeting, the witness should review and sign the notes."

Employment tribunals take the Acas Code into account in relevant cases, and under section 207A of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 can increase or reduce an award by up to 25 per cent where an employer or an employee unreasonably failed to follow it.

Why a note made at the time carries weight

In civil proceedings in England and Wales, section 1 of the Civil Evidence Act 1995 says evidence "shall not be excluded on the ground that it is hearsay". The critical question is weight, and section 4 lists circumstances a court may consider. Three are about how a note was made:

• whether the original statement was made contemporaneously with the occurrence or existence of the matters stated
• whether any person involved had any motive to conceal or misrepresent matters
• whether the original statement was an edited account, or was made in collaboration with another or for a particular purpose

A note written on the day, by one person, before anyone knew it would matter, answers all three well; a statement drafted months later, after a meeting with colleagues, answers them badly.

In Gestmin SGPS SA v Credit Suisse (UK) Ltd [2013] EWHC 3560 (Comm), Mr Justice Leggatt said the best approach in a commercial trial was "to place little if any reliance at all on witnesses' recollections of what was said in meetings and conversations, and to base factual findings on inferences drawn from the documentary evidence and known or probable facts". That was a commercial case, but the logic travels.

In criminal proceedings, section 120 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 allows a witness's previous statement to be admitted as evidence in some circumstances, including where it "was made by the witness when the matters stated were fresh in his memory" and the witness can no longer remember them well enough to give oral evidence. Employment tribunals are less formal: rule 41 of the Employment Tribunal Procedure Rules 2024 says the Tribunal "is not bound by any rule of law relating to the admissibility of evidence in proceedings before the courts", so there too the usual question is weight.

None of this makes an early note true; a contemporaneous note can be wrong. What it gives everyone is a fixed point, written down before the story had time to settle.

What a good contemporaneous note contains

PACE Code C asks for the place, the start and end times and the names of all those present; the NMC Code asks for entries "clearly written, dated and timed", without "unnecessary abbreviations, jargon or speculation"; HMRC tells its officers to record facts and observations, "but not opinions". The NMC Code applies that standard to paper and electronic records alike. A good note has:

• The date and two times: when the event happened and when you are writing.
• The place, and who was present, by name and role.
• The exact words used, in quotation marks, especially a child's or adult's own words about harm. Do not paraphrase them.
• What you saw: an injury, its size and position, the person's demeanour. Describe; do not diagnose.
• Facts kept apart from opinion. If you record a view, label it as yours and say what it rests on.
• What you did next, who you told and when.
• Your name, role and signature, or the log-in that identifies you on a digital system.
• Corrections that stay visible. The CQC's guidance says care records must be "indelible". Strike through an error with a single line, initial and date it, and leave it readable. Acas says a witness amending their statement "should sign any changes they make".

Contemporaneous and retrospective notes, and how to write one

A retrospective note is written after the moment has passed: at the end of a shift, the next day, or when someone asks for a statement. The rule is to say what it is. The NMC Code expects nurses to record "if the notes are written some time after the event", and PACE Code C says that if a written record is not completed during the interview "the reason must be recorded in the interview record".

Taking contemporaneous notes well comes down to a short routine:

1. Write it now. If you cannot write during the conversation, jot key words and exact phrases, then write the full note before the next task.
2. Record two times: the event and the writing. If there is a gap, say why.
3. Write it yourself, before you talk it over. Among the things the Civil Evidence Act lets a court weigh is whether a statement was "made in collaboration with another". Two colleagues who agree a version first have produced one account, not two.
4. Keep to what you saw and heard, in order, with exact words in quotation marks and any opinion labelled.
5. Sign it and file it where the organisation keeps records: the child protection file, the care record, the investigation file. Not a desk drawer or a notes app on your own phone.
6. Never rewrite it. If you remember something later, add a dated addendum saying when and why.
7. Keep the original. If you type up handwritten notes, keep the handwritten page with the typed version.

A note about a person is also that person's information. The ICO's guide to subject access says the right of access "gives people the right to obtain a copy of their personal information from you", and that you must respond "without undue delay, and within one month of receipt of the request". Write every note as though its subject may one day read it.

The note that was sent as a message

In the example above, the youth worker's first written record of the disclosure was not her note but the text to the safeguarding lead at 19:04, in her own words, time-stamped as it went. That message is a contemporaneous record, and in most organisations it sits on a personal phone.

The care worker who messages the night manager about a resident's fall and the deputy head who texts the head after a difficult call from a parent have each made a timed, first-hand record of the kind a court weighs. When a complaint, a tribunal claim or a subject access request arrives months later, the organisation usually cannot produce it. The worker has left, changed phones or cleared the thread; the organisation never held a copy.

ComplyChat gives those work conversations a channel the organisation controls. Messages are recorded on the server as they are sent, not gathered from handsets afterwards, and everyone added to a channel is told it is on the record. On paid plans, once the organisation's Microsoft 365 is connected and the archive is filing, the lasting record files there under the organisation's own retention rules, so the 19:04 message can be produced later with its time and author intact.

ComplyChat is not a safeguarding case-management system, a care record or an HR investigation file, and a message does not replace the written note in the proper file. If your staff already raise concerns through a system that records them at the time, you may not need it. ComplyChat Free is personal messaging with one private group, direct messages, up to 25 staff members and three calendar months of recent history, with no Microsoft 365 archive or Replay; it is a way to try the messaging, not a place to keep a record.

A question for your next leadership or board meeting: if a tribunal, the CQC or a family asked for the first written account of our last serious concern, could we produce it, or would we have to ask a member of staff to look through their own phone?

Questions people ask

What does contemporaneous note mean?

A contemporaneous note is a written record of an event made at the time it happened or as soon as practicable afterwards, by someone who saw or heard it. Its value comes from its timing: HMRC's handbook for its own officers says "The longer the time between an event and a notebook entry, the lesser the credibility of the notes."

What does "contemporaneous" mean in legal terms?

In legal terms, contemporaneous means made at the same time as the events recorded, or so soon afterwards that the memory is still fresh. Section 4 of the Civil Evidence Act 1995 lets a civil court weighing hearsay evidence consider "whether the original statement was made contemporaneously with the occurrence or existence of the matters stated".

What does contemporaneous document mean?

A contemporaneous document is one created at or about the time of the events it records, such as an email, a message, minutes or a note, rather than a later account such as a witness statement. In Gestmin v Credit Suisse, a commercial case, the judge said the best approach was to base factual findings on "inferences drawn from the documentary evidence and known or probable facts" rather than on witnesses' recollections of meetings and conversations.

How do I write contemporaneous notes?

Write them during the event or as soon as you can afterwards: the date, the time of the event and of writing, the place, who was there, the exact words used, and what you saw and did. Keep facts apart from opinion, sign it, and never alter it later; add a dated addendum instead.

What is an example of contemporaneous?

A youth worker's note written fifteen minutes after a young person's disclosure, quoting their words and timed and signed, is a contemporaneous note; a statement she writes three weeks later for an investigation is not.

Where to read the official guidance

Start with PACE Code C 2023 (paragraphs 11.7 to 11.14), the CQC's guidance on Regulation 17: Good governance, Keeping children safe in education 2026 and the Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures. Every document quoted is listed under Sources, as published on 28 September 2026.

This guide is written for organisations in England, and the rules of evidence it quotes are those of England and Wales. It is not legal advice about a live case or a disputed note.

Then do one thing: pick the last three concerns or incidents your organisation recorded, and for each ask when the first written account was made, by whom, where it is now, and whether anyone could tell if it had been changed.