MOD Service Records – frequently asked questions
1. What records are being made accessible?
The first records we have been able to make available on our Catalogue for public
access are those in series. WO420 and they cover The Royal Electrical and
Mechanical Engineers regiment. Further series have now been catalogued – please
see our Research Guide for details of these.
The records released so far are those with a date of birth greater than 115 years and
that can be ordered by members of the public. We are working to release further
records from this collection to which access restrictions apply.
2. Why are they the only ones accessible at this point in time?
In February 2021, the Ministry of Defence began the transfer of historic service
personnel records to The National Archives. Records are regularly delivered to The
National Archives. There are approximately 9.7 million records which will be
transferred over the next 6 years. These are the first records to be made available to
the public. We will use them to learn the best way to make the records available and
implement those findings as we make more records accessible.
3. When will the rest of the records be available?
The records do require some work before being made available on our Catalogue,
and access to them is dependent on FOI/DPA restrictions. The National Archives will
provide further advice on how and when these records can be accessed in the
coming months via our website and social media platforms.
4. Why is medical information closed for longer in this collection when
available in other transferred MOD records?
Some of the records within this vast collection contain a wealth of medical
information. Thus, a different closure period was required to manage the sensitivities
and the expectation of confidence. The current approach for access to deceased
service personnel records is found on gov.uk pages. The ICO have also outlined
within their guidance the case precedent regarding the applicability of the section 41
exemption for confidential information to requests for medical records of deceased
persons. Having applied the 100-year rule in order to determine a lifetime closure
period (Section 40 exemption – personal data) then when dealing with medical
information that has an expectation of confidence lasting beyond death we needed to
arrive at a period that comes sometime after the expiry of the 100 year closure.
Given that the duty of confidence does diminish over time, MOD and TNA felt that
115 years after date of birth was a balance between recognising the obligation to
keep this information confidential, whilst providing access to a significant collection of
historical records.
5. How can I open a record of an individual I know to be deceased?
Whether or not the material can be opened, will be assessed upon request, and
considered under relevant access legislation; Data Protection and Freedom of
Information laws.
MOD Service Records – frequently asked questions
To open a record, it must first be located and checked. For those records relating to
individuals born less than 100 years ago we will require provide proof of death, in
order to consider if information can be released from the record. Suitable forms of
evidence are an official death certificate or published obituary.
Please see links to our FOI request forms for
• Closed records (individuals DOB under 115 years ago – presumed living)
• Open records (DOB over 115 years – presumed deceased)
6. Will these records be digitised?
Yes. We are currently undertaking a procurement exercise to appoint a digitisation
partner.
7. Why can’t I find the person I am looking for?
This release of records on our catalogue is a small part of the records from the 9.7
million that compromises the service personnel collection.
As part of this project and transfer we have received an index that contains the data
from those individuals whose records form part of this collection.
To help people access the records and search the records, we have created request
forms which will be accessible both on website and within the Catalogue for closed
records.
If you can’t find the individual you are looking for within the series’ available on our
Catalogue, you can use our FOI request forms (see links in question 5).
On receipt of the completed forms we will search the database for your desired
record. To establish if the individual you are looking for has a record within this
collection, we need as much information as possible to find a match/es
For this we need:
• The full name
• Date of birth
• Service number - if known
In the absence of the service number other useful information would be.
• Place of birth
• Regiment
It is possible that once we have searched the index we still can’t find the record you
are looking for.
There are several reasons for this, but it is possible the record does not exist. A
number of First World War service personnel records were destroyed during the Blitz
in 1940 when the War Office warehouse that was housing them in Arnside Street
was bombed. Although efforts were made to retrieve the records, some were
unfortunately unsalvageable. Alternatively it may be that the data within the index
MOD Service Records – frequently asked questions
may not match the information provided, for example the spelling of the names may
be slightly different; incorrectly transcribed. If you cannot find an exact match for the
data you have used to search, it might be worth looking at several possible records
and trying a variety of possible spellings.
From within those records on Discovery; if you do notice an error in a description,
please make us aware so that we can check the record and amend where
appropriate. You can do this by clicking on the ‘Found an error?' link in our online
catalogue, Discovery. This is displayed at the bottom of every catalogue entry.
In cases where we get near matches, we may need to check several records to find
a match and determine if the record is held. If we need more information from you,
we will request this from you.
If we find a match, but the record is still held by MOD, we will also inform you of the
result of the search and the next steps for your research. This project and transfer
will take up to six years to complete and we do not yet have all the records within this
collection.
8. Why are records closed?
These are personnel records, of identified individuals and they contain a range of
personal data including medical information. Therefore closure will apply until 115
years past the date of birth of the individual. Information relating to living individuals
is their personal data and will be withheld under section 40 of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.
Any medical information regarding an individual will be considered exempt under
section 41 and will be treated in confidence.
9. How can I see my own record?
An individual is entitled to submit a Data Subject Access Request to obtain their own
information within the service records we hold. These requests fall under the Data
Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation.
You can use this form to ask for access to your own record or the record of someone
who has given you permission to act on their behalf. - Request your own Ministry of
Defence personnel record or on behalf of a living data subject
You will need to provide proof of identification, and if on behalf of another, proof you
have permission to act on their behalf, proof of their identification and proof of your
identity.
For more information about how to submit a subject access request, please see the
ICO website. Please note that the information will only be disclosed to you, and the
record itself will remain closed.
MOD Service Records – frequently asked questions
10. How can I close an open record of a living individual?
If you see a record that is open, but which you believe should be closed because the
person is still alive, you can ask for the record to be closed, via this request form. For
further details on how this works, please see TNA’s Takedown and Reclosure Policy
11. How do I find out if the record I want is held by the Ministry of Defence or
The National Archives?
Both TNA and MOD should be able to search the collection index to identify where
the record is held. To do this searching we will require specific information to find the
requested record/s - see question 7.
12. How long will it take to get access to a newly transferred open record?
The records will require work to ensure their long-term preservation before being
accessible to the public.
To request access to newly transferred records, including open records not yet on
our catalogue, please use our online forms (see question 5 for links). We will
endeavour to adhere to the 20 working days to process requests for access to open
records (FOI deadline). Dependent on how many access requests are in process,
this service may incur a delay; this is a very large collection of records and we
expect it to be very popular with the public. We now hold over 3 million of these
records and this will be nearly 5 million records by April 2023. As part of this service
you can expect to be regularly updated on the progress and would ask for your
patience while we establish the resources we need to meet the demands.
The National Archives will provide further advice on when and how these records
can be accessed in the coming months via our website and social media platforms.
13. How do I get in touch to work out if you have my ancestor’s records? Is
there any email address?
Please use the online request forms – see questions 5 and 9.
14. Will the catalogue descriptions be available straight away on Discovery?
We are cataloguing and releasing the MOD Service Personnel record descriptions
on to Discovery one series at a time. The descriptions for these series may be
released over several weeks
15. Is there a charge for some records?
Digitising paper records is costly, and normally involves additional cataloguing and
transcription work to ensure that the records are searchable. When we decide to
digitise a collection of records, we either work with commercial and academic
publishing partners or we do the work ourselves and make digital copies available to
download from our website through Discovery.
If you wish to obtain a digital or paper copy of these records, or of records in the
collection which have not yet been digitised, a fee may be charged. As a government
MOD Service Records – frequently asked questions
department, we are obliged to charge for some of our public services, including
research and record copying.
The prices we charge for some of our services are set out by the Fees Regulations
under the Public Records Act (1958) and are based on recovering the costs of
providing these services.
If you want a copy of the record, we provide a record copying service via our
website.
16. I am a relative of the person I am searching for. Will I be able to see all of
the information in their record?
The right to access Information is set out in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
The Act gives everyone a legal right to know what information is held by public
bodies, including The National Archives. Alongside this right you have the right to
have it communicated to you, subject to any exemptions which may apply.
Since these rights are given to everyone, anyone can request information,
regardless of whether they are related to the subject or not. Under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000, there are a number of exemptions which can be applied by
public bodies to protect certain types of information, including that which is sensitive
or personal. This information is exempt by law and as such is closed to everyone
until certain criteria (for example, passage of time since the death of the data
subject) have been met. This means that occasionally, information will be provided
but with redactions in place to protect certain types of information.
