A method and computer program product are provided to ensure a timely secure data erase by comparing a number of secure data erase operations in a queue to a maximum queued threshold, the secure data erase operations corresponding to physical volumes to be secure data erased. In response to determining that the number of secure data erase operations in the queue is greater than the threshold, an average time to a secure data erase deadline is determined. The average time to the secure data erase deadline is compared to a predefined expiration threshold. In response to determining that the average time to the secure data erase deadline is less than the predefined expiration threshold, at least one additional resource is allocated to perform the queued secure data erase operations for completing the secure data erase operations prior to the secure data erase deadline.