MOD Army Personnel Centre - Requests for Information

[Anthony Ewen]

Does anyone know if requests for information are still being processed?

I have submitted two applications (one in February and one in June) and the cheques have not been presented for payment and I have not heard anything.  Have tried telephoning the Helpdesk number but it is always 'busy'.

Any suggestions would be very welcome.

[kenf48]

Members have reported very long delays. We know staff are furloughed and working from home.  Glasgow  is currently a COVID hotspot ;no doubt, and rightly their focus is probably on the living and recently bereaved 

It would be good to get a definitive answer , perhaps you could write to them or email and report back?

[Anthony Ewen]

Thanks Ken - will see what I can find out.  Watch this space!

Regards

Tony

[ss002d6252]

Even in quiet times 6-12 months was usual to wait so I'd imagine times have skyrocketed now. As Ken says,  it'll be useful if anyone could feed back the waiting times, if they can manage to get in touch with someone.

Craig

[sassenach]

Sometimes a letter or email to your MP can speed things up. The eventual reply from MoD won't be any different, of course, but cases that come in via MPs are often given a higher priority from those that come straight from the public (at least they were in my day.) And they are less likely to go to ground in the vast bureaucracy.

[Keith_history_buff]

It is taking in excess of 12 months for this activity to be carried out. I think you can expect a lead time of at least 15 months for an army service record.

Some people on the following FB group have made comments as to the lead times they are experiencing. 
UK Military History/Military Genealogy and military photography

(The group itself contains some genealogy posts, and a lot of virtue signalling posts.)

The department was completely closed for 5 months, so that extra accumulation of work has drawn out the lead time. This activity is being done in addition to the administration of HR activities for serving soldiers of the British Army. In the coming years, the records will be transferred from Swadlincote to Kew, and APC Glasgow will not be saddled with this task.

[kenf48]

4 minutes ago, Keith_history_buff said:

Some people on the following FB group have made comments as to the lead times they are experiencing. 
UK Military History/Military Genealogy and military photography

Thanks Keith I see it is a closed group, but perhaps Anthony will get a response

1 hour ago, sassenach said:

Sometimes a letter or email to your MP can speed things up.

Do we really want to try to jump the queue with family history and give it priority over those serving, or veterans suffering hardship today?

[sassenach]

6 minutes ago, kenf48 said:

Thanks Keith I see it is a closed group, but perhaps Anthony will get a response

Do we really want to try to jump the queue with family history and give it priority over those serving, or veterans suffering hardship today?

No, of course not. I hadn't picked up from the OP that the request was of that nature.

[Keith_history_buff]

For the past ten years, it has taken 6-12 months to get copies of army service records. I don't see writing to an MP resulting in a magic money tree appearing. Given there are plans to offload the service records - that have been stored at Swadlincote since 2003 under a 25 year service level agreement - I would think it unlikely that any further resources would be forthcoming for the interim period between now and when the records are transferred.  

In March 2021, I saw the following statement in a response to an MP in respect of long lead times. The letter was reproduced on a genealogy group on Facebook. It was also reproduced verbatim in a FoI response, in relation to the 2016 MOD study on release of service records for personnel discharged before 1963. That study got a mention on this very forum, courtesy of the investigative powers of Justin Nash.

 

Quote

A decision has been made on the release of the service records. The MOD has commenced the transfer of 9.7 million service personnel records to The National Archives. In the coming months, The National Archives will provide further advice on when and how these records can be accessed via their website and social media platforms.

Given this was sent to an MP in March, it seems likely the same statement will be provided.

I had been hoping that the MOD would be putting the 2016 study in the public domain. They do publish their FOI requests, but the answer to the FoI request dated 31 Janaury 2021 does not appear to have surfaced as of yet.

[Keith_history_buff]

In April 2021, TNA were advertising for a HEO grade archivist in relation to this project. 

There is a list of "coming soon" items, to be transferred to TNA, and they are at the bottom of that list
 

[Anthony Ewen]

Thanks for all the interest and replies - all much appreciated.  When making the original post I had no idea of what was happening but the information you have all provided has cleared things up.

Tony

[Keith_history_buff]

At the end of March 2021, the following was being shared across genealogy groups, and the recipient gave permission for it to be put in the public domain.

Quote

Some good news for those researching WWII servicemen, I wrote to my MP [for Horsham], Jeremy Quin, recently asking what plans there were to release WWII servicemen’s records and this is part of a letter he received from [the incumbent Minister of State for Defence] Baroness Goldie (I have omitted part of the letter which mentions my home address). No time scales but a promising direction of travel.

 

[charlie962]

No doubt there is a deal being struck between NatArchives and one of the Genealogy sites to enable records to be digitised. Great solution in the long term but presumable means that if records are in the process of transfer then very unlikely we will get response from MoD or NA. I suspect we will have to wait for the digitised records? Timescale ???

 

Charlie

[busterfield]

I had put in a request over a year ago and after asking if they were open or closed due to COVID i had this reply. In reply to another question I was informed that the

https://www.gov.uk/get-copy-military-service-records/apply-for-someone-elses-records

was being updated to explain what was happening due to COVID, nothing has changed.

The MOD charge of £30 per record was OK.

With the prices the NA charge for copying I would think that would price many people out of appling for records.

[DavidOwen]

25 minutes ago, busterfield said:

 

With the prices the NA charge for copying I would think that would price many people out of appling for records.

 

Which is why lots of us use independent researchers - cost is a lot less.

[kjharris]

Off the website https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/requests-for-personal-data-and-service-records

and dated 6 Aug 2021

British Army records

If your request relates to an army record of service, due to the volume of requests received there is currently a significant backlog of at least 12 months, however, we are working hard to reduce this as quickly as possible.

 

[harley1962]

I received a service record request back last month that I had forgot about as it was from 11 months previous. My cheque was returned with it and I had to send a new cheque. 

[tullybrone]

19 hours ago, harley1962 said:

I received a service record request back last month that I had forgot about as it was from 11 months previous. My cheque was returned with it and I had to send a new cheque. 

Members posting on ww2talk are not impressed with the information contained in service files received recently from Army Personnel Centre, Glasgow.

MOD are now withholding B103 and redacting various other forms re medical/discipline/personal information in line with recently updated disclosure rules.

Basic provision is the 4 page Attestation/conscription forms containing high level statement of services information - and it can be redacted as above.

£30 is a high cost for this level of information in comparison to what was provided previously.

Steve 

[busterfield]

Four pages is all I received for my £30. Considering the soldier  I was interested in served from WW1 through to the end of WW2 it did seem a bit slim on any details.