Has anyone else recently requested British Service Records from MOD?

[JJENG]

My cousin has recently submitted completed forms to MOD for her father's army service record. She has received the following reply...'Unfortunately, due to the very high volume of urgent welfare requests on behalf of former soldiers, family interest enquiries are currently taking longer than we would like to complete.  Please accept my apologies for the delay and I will write to you in due course. However, if under the circumstances, you would like to cancel your request then please write to me and I will arrange to refund your payment. Your patience is appreciated'.

Has anyone else had this response or know how long the wait is likely to be? The comment about cancelling the request sounds like there may be a long wait!  Even before this, she was expecting the normal waiting time of a few months.

[smudwhisk]

My Aunt requested her father's Royal Navy Service Record from the 1930s last month, it only took a couple of weeks to arrive.  It may be that the RN records aren't taking as long as Army ones.

[KGarrad]

I asked for 2 RN requests last year.
One took a couple of weeks.
The other took 4 months.

It rather depends on how much work is involved?
They only have 1 or 2 people working on these (I was told)

[cpercival]

I received a similar letter when I applied for my father's records last year.  The records then turned up only a few weeks later.

[ITBookworm]

We applied for hubby's uncles records  (army) and got an email reply within a few days checking something. Once that was sorted we got the usual email saying that it might take a while and did we want to cancel. The records turned up on Friday - just over the 2 weeks start to finish!!!

We were able to provide a service number as well as his dob - I don't know if that makes any difference to how fast they can find the records?

[Christine53]

I received a letter advising of possible delays , followed closely by receipt of the record. I did , however , have full details of regiment , rank , service number etc and a relatively uncommon surname , Pullinger. How much searching is required must have an impact on delivery.

[trish58]

When I requested my Dad's records it took a full year, but I think a lot of the delay was because my Dad never claimed his medals. No matter how long the wait it was worth it.

Trish

[JJENG]

Very many thanks to all of you who have responded to my enquiry.  The information you have given me is ressuring that my cousin may not have to wait too long, especially as she was able to provide lots of information about him including his service number.  Your help is much appreciated!

[LizzieL]

I'm also pleased to hear that the wait isn't always as long as might be expected. My brother is in the process of applying for our father's navy record. We know his date and place of birth and his service number. Also his name isn't very common, so perhaps we'll also be lucky and not have too long to wait.