Service Records application - MOD response timescale

Discussion in 'Service Records' started by DanMorris1989, May 25, 2015.

  1. Koool G

    Koool G Member

    I hear the online application/payment system is going live for Army records of deceased service personnel held by the MoD on 2nd November.
     
    AJBonny, MrEd, 8RB and 1 other person like this.
  2. EmpireUmpire

    EmpireUmpire .........

    That sounds promising - will it cut down waiting times I wonder?
     
    J Kubra likes this.
  3. Koool G

    Koool G Member

    I imagine it will have the opposite effect as applicants from overseas who haven't been able to apply due to a lot of financial institutions stopping providing sterling international money orders will now apply. So basically the way to apply will be modernised but the actual records themselves will still mostly be hardcopy and not scanned etc.
     
  4. 8RB

    8RB Well-Known Member

    Indeed, I'll be one of them. My sincere apologies for causing further delays. :wacko:
     
    Koool G likes this.
  5. Koool G

    Koool G Member

    Best to check that the MoD still have the file you are looking for before you apply. It may have been transferred to TNA.
     
  6. 8RB

    8RB Well-Known Member

    How?
     
  7. Koool G

    Koool G Member

    8RB likes this.
  8. Wobbler

    Wobbler Well-Known Member

    May be best to change the “@“ in that email to “at” - helps prevent lots of hostile bots and bugs infiltrating the email address apparently :)
     
    Koool G likes this.
  9. Wobbler

    Wobbler Well-Known Member

    I saw today a post on the BMF regarding the Medal Office, which I thought you may find of interest if you are experiencing any delays from what has usually been, in my experience, a very fast service. The OP has said I may share it with you.

    He had sent a request for medal entitlement back in May but had not received any reply. Fearing the MO had lost his request, in October he sent them a polite enquiry and, having still not heard, sent another yesterday. This is the response he has finally received, quote:

    Dear Mr …

    To investigate Mr …’s medal entitlement we will need to carry out an assessment of his record of service.

    Until recently, all Second World War British Army service records were held at the MOD Archives and were easily available to the MOD Medal Office.

    We regret to inform you that, due to a large scale project to transfer over 1,000,000 service records dating up to 01 January 1963 from the MOD contracted storage site to The National Archives in Kew, the service record required to complete the assessment for your medal entitlement is currently unavailable to us.

    We have requested a copy Mr …’s service record from the National Archives but, due to the number of requests and the time taking to upload the data, it is currently taking over 10 months for them to respond, sometimes longer.

    Yours sincerely…


    Unquote.
     
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  10. Koool G

    Koool G Member

    Any department (Army Disclosures, MoDMO, Pensions, Medical, Litigation etc.) who need to access a file transferred to the National Archives as part of the Defence Records Management Project will have the same issues and horrendous wait.
     
    papiermache and Wobbler like this.
  11. Carlj90

    Carlj90 Member

    Hello, I sent off a request for a service record 3/4 months ago and have already received the records back. I was preparing to wait 12 months at least.

    anyone else experienced this quick turn around?
     
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  12. Richard Lewis

    Richard Lewis Member

    Seems that the system is “live”. I don’t know if it works or not, if it’s anything like gov.uk’s probate search site then I don’t feel optimistic.

    Before you startThe best place to find government services and information - GOV.UK

    To quote from the site:

    What you'll need
    • The person's full name and date of birth
    • Debit or credit card (Navy and RAF applicants only). Army and Home Guard service record applicants will be sent a payment link if, having done a check, the record is held by the Ministry of Defence. Where not held, you will be sent to The National Archives.
    • Digital copy of the death certificate of the person you’re requesting the records of in the correct format (PDF, JPG or PNG). The file size is to be no bigger than 5MB.
    Good news, perhaps, for those who do not have a UK bank account as it appears cheques are no longer needed. The worrying thing is that records are being transferred to TNA. How will these records be accessed?
     
    Last edited: Nov 20, 2022
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  13. Koool G

    Koool G Member

    If the file you are requesting has been transferred to the National Archives (TNA) you will be provided with a contact email at TNA and the barcode reference to make sure you get the correct file from TNA.
     
    Wobbler and Richard Lewis like this.
  14. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    So, with the recent transfer of documents to TNA. I often receive enquiries from families trying to trace their Chindit relatives WW2 service. When I cannot help them from my archive, I have up to now directed them to the MOD at Glasgow. Is this the best advice to give them still, or should I mention the new situation at TNA? Could get confusing for them.

    Any advice welcome.
     
  15. Richard Lewis

    Richard Lewis Member

    Just applied on line or my great uncle's army record. A confirmation e-mail received. It states:

    What happens next

    • The disclosure branch will perform the search based on the data you have given.
    • The search will tell the disclosure branch where the record is held.
    • You may be contacted for further information, using the contact details you provided.
    • You will be sent a payment link if you need to pay for a record held by the Ministry Of Defence.
    • You will be directed to the National Archive if the record you want is held by them.
    Just have to wait now.:sleep:
     
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  16. Koool G

    Koool G Member

    Best to check with MoD at Glasgow first.
     
    bamboo43 likes this.
  17. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Thanks Koool G.
     
    Koool G likes this.
  18. I sent for five officers' records on December 15th. I am one of those overseas who has been limited by getting payment in sterling...though I have friends in the UK I didn't want to drag them through the hassle. I hope this will work to everyone's advantage.

    Richard, have you heard anything yet? You're about a month ahead of me. I'm very eager as I've been sitting on my requests for months and one individual I've wondered about for years.

    Robert
     
  19. Richard Lewis

    Richard Lewis Member

    Hello Robert,

    Nothing heard yet. Early day days at the moment. I'm not expecting any reply in the near future.

    The record I'm after is in the series '11005: (Army) Other Ranks Service Records, 1921-1939' which the MoD were asking for tenders for digitisation in Novermber 2021. At the moment the status of the tender is, 'Closed opportunity - This means that the contract is currently closed. The buying department may be considering suppliers that have already applied, or no suitable offers were made'. So does that mean that the MoD still have the records?

     
  20. horsapassenger

    horsapassenger Senior Member

    Don’t know what’s happening with MoD. My cheque was cleared through my bank on 22nd December but still have received nothing. When I enquired they said my order “was still being processed”. In the past the cheque wasn’t presented until a few days after the records had been received
     

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