diff --git a/services/backup/src/config.rs b/services/backup/src/config.rs
--- a/services/backup/src/config.rs
+++ b/services/backup/src/config.rs
@@ -23,6 +23,9 @@
   #[arg(env = "IDENTITY_SERVICE_ENDPOINT")]
   #[arg(long, default_value = "http://localhost:50054")]
   pub identity_endpoint: String,
+  #[arg(env = "REMOVE_OLD_BACKUPS")]
+  #[arg(long, default_value_t = false)]
+  pub remove_old_backups: bool,
 }
 
 /// Stores configuration parsed from command-line arguments
diff --git a/services/backup/src/database/mod.rs b/services/backup/src/database/mod.rs
--- a/services/backup/src/database/mod.rs
+++ b/services/backup/src/database/mod.rs
@@ -5,8 +5,9 @@
   backup_item::{BackupItem, OrderedBackupItem},
   log_item::LogItem,
 };
-use crate::constants::{
-  backup_table, error_types, log_table, LOG_DEFAULT_PAGE_SIZE,
+use crate::{
+  constants::{backup_table, error_types, log_table, LOG_DEFAULT_PAGE_SIZE},
+  CONFIG,
 };
 use aws_sdk_dynamodb::{
   operation::get_item::GetItemOutput,
@@ -155,9 +156,13 @@
     user_id: &str,
     blob_client: &BlobServiceClient,
   ) -> Result<Vec<BackupItem>, Error> {
-    let items = self.query_ordered_backups_index(user_id, None).await?;
     let mut removed_backups = vec![];
 
+    if !CONFIG.remove_old_backups {
+      return Ok(removed_backups);
+    }
+
+    let items = self.query_ordered_backups_index(user_id, None).await?;
     let Some(latest) = items.iter().map(|item| item.created).max() else {
       return Ok(removed_backups);
     };
diff --git a/services/docker-compose.tests.yml b/services/docker-compose.tests.yml
--- a/services/docker-compose.tests.yml
+++ b/services/docker-compose.tests.yml
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@
     environment:
       BLOB_SERVICE_URL: 'http://blob-server:50053'
       COMM_SERVICES_DISABLE_CSAT_VERIFICATION: 'true'
+      REMOVE_OLD_BACKUPS: 'true'
       IDENTITY_SERVICE_ENDPOINT: 'http://identity-server:50054'
 
   blob-server: