Has the process or product changed ?
...
Obtaining a Full Service Record
In January 2023 I helped a family obtain the full service record for their recently deceased Fleet Air Arm father, whose 12 year 'short service commission' ran from the 50s to the 60s. His entire service record was provided comprehensively and very promptly by paper photo copies of almost everything, including confidential reports. My resulting comb-bound printed copy was nearly half an inch thick.
In December 2023, I helped a still well alive Fleet Air Arm pilot to apply for his own 30 year service record from early 1950 to the 1980s. The detail supplied electronically was minimal compared to that provided a year earlier and was in part incomprehensible if one is not IT literate, or if one has no access to JPA. Quote - "This Data is taken from the Data Preservation Repository as of 11 Dec 2023. It should be read in conjunction with the Data held on JPA."
There are obvious differences between our two requests - viz -
· The latter bloke is still alive.
· The procedure changed in April 2023 from 'cost you £30' - to 'free'
While I take this up with the relevant offices - does anyone here have any recent experience or views on the subject ?
Q1. Has the 'request a full service record' process changed ?
Q2. Did we fail to ask for what we actually wanted ?
TIA ... LFH