Request for WW2 Army Service Records - being told i will have to wait until 2029

[Cell]

 but the MOD returned the death certificate - so i don't even know if TNA know that both fathers/grandfathers have passed away.   

The bit that

The whole matter seems contradictory ( by the TNA)

Maybe try again, via the  new online application ( on the TNA site). Which you shouldn't  have to do of course considering you have applied 2 years ago and sent the MOD the death cert and are probably looking at another 1 + +  years with a new application.

You don't  pay anything initially  with the TNAs  online portal. When you go through  the  online  application, if it's within 115 years  there's an attachment button  to upload a death cert.
 With  my own grandfather's date ( as his birth  is outside  that 115 years ) the option  is not  there on the online forms, but  any date  I put in within the 115 years there  is a button  there to upload the death cert ,you will not get past that page for any birth under 115 years if you don't  upload the death cert. 

Perhaps they ( TNA) did not take notice of the  record of the death cert you initially  sent to the MOD ( ?) .

Kind regards

[cockney rebel]

Hi
I've been following this thread with interest but I am totally lost within the hierachy of TNA!
Could someone please supply a direct link to the appropriate application page at TNA?
Many thanks
Rebel

[arthurk]

I've been reading about this issue in a few places, and am still rather confused. I could be wrong, but I'm beginning to wonder if two separate processes have been confused:

(a) TNA's route via the Freedom of Information Act, which, it appears, has a 115-year closure - see https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/mod-open-foi-request-step1

(b) the MOD route which provides full information to next of kin, and a redacted version to everyone else unless the next of kin consent to fuller disclosure - see https://www.gov.uk/get-copy-military-service-records/apply-for-someone-elses-records

On the MOD route, note:
(i) they say "Personal data is not generally available under the Freedom of Information Act" (https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-defence/about/publication-scheme#requests-for-personal-data-and-service-records) - does this suggest that the TNA policy might be about something other than the next-of-kin personal service records we've generally been getting from the MOD?
(ii) the MOD has recently announced that service records will be available free of charge form 23 April, and in the past 24 hours or so the website has been updated, bringing the date forward to 1 April.
(iii) most service records are still with the MOD and are only being transferred to TNA in stages, so the obvious course of action for next of kin is to apply on 1 April in the hope that the application is dealt with under the existing MOD procedures before TNA gets their hands on the records. And if ultimately there is a change of policy and some information is redacted, at least it won't have cost anything and a further application can be made in due course.

[Ruskie]

It seems like they don’t know if they’re coming or going. 

Can anyone speculate why they might be offering free service records after April 1?

[rafcommands]

All that MoD have said is that it will free to apply - not that fee for supplying a record will be waived.

Ross

[Ruskie]

All that MoD have said is that it will free to apply - not that fee for supplying a record will be waived.

Ross

Ah ha. Well spotted Ross.

[rafcommands]

Seems that they are in a flat spin trying to stop the idea that there will be no charge to supply a record.

Appeared in the last week or so on the page
https://www.gov.uk/get-copy-military-service-records/apply-for-someone-elses-records

"When you apply online for a British Army or Home Guard record, the MOD will check if they hold it. If they have it, you’ll be sent a link to pay. If they do not, you’ll be told to check The National Archives."

It is to prevent bad press from the old system as more records become available at the TNA eg MoD charged me £30 upfront - not refundable - to tell me I had to pay again at the TNA

So now you apply to mod they send you an payment screen or tell you where the record is.

The more interesting bit is the one for WWI records.

If you follow the link to the TNA page it describes how to do an FOI to get possible access to the Closed responses that started this thread.

I suspected that TNA was not doing an individual FOI review even when given a proof of death - this confirms that you got the stock answer Closed until - but it was not made clear until now that you needed to do a specific method of request to trigger the review.

Note as well that it covers those with a date of birth up to and including 1939 not just WWI as per MoD page.

Ross

[Jomot]

As far as I understand it, TNA is exactly what its name says - a National Archive - and therefore anyone applying for information/records must be treated exactly the same.

This is what they mean by "Information released under FOI is released to the public at large" ie a record is 'open' or its 'closed'.  There is no half-way measure where relatives can obtain more information than Joe Public.

The guidance from the Information Commissioner is that medical information is exempt from being made public (select Deceased People & then click through):
https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guidance-index/freedom-of-information-and-environmental-information-regulations/

What isn't clear though is whether a FoI request would enable a redacted version of the records to be opened, but TNA says this about Durham Home Guard records:

If we find a record of the individual for whom you have provided evidence of death, we will send you a copy of the record with the email. Some of the records include medical forms which for data protection reasons are closed until 2045 so this information will be redacted.

[Jebber]

On the Government website. From the first of April 2023 it will be free to apply for the records from the MOD, until then it is still £30.