The National Archives based at Kew, England, which has charge of records common to the four nations of the UK, is to raise its fees in February 2026 for the first time since 2019, and to introduce a new Request A Military Service Record service. The following is the announcement:
From 2 February 2026, The National Archives will increase fees for some services as we bring charges in line with current delivery costs. This is the first increase since 2019.
The changes affect fees for document copies, research and search services, and authentication, and also introduce a new fee for accessing recently transferred historic Ministry of Defence service personnel records.
Saul Nassé, Chief Executive of The National Archives said:
‘We are introducing updated fees that reflect the costs of providing services to meet the high standards our users rightly expect. We have worked hard to keep the costs as low as possible, while introducing new offerings that we believe the public will value. A visit to view records at our reading rooms in Kew remains free, while these charges allow us to invest in the additional services we know people want.’
Since the last review in 2018, the operational costs involved to deliver our services have increased significantly. Improvements in our processes have enabled us to keep the majority of increases below inflation over the six-year period.
The one charge which has increased more than inflation is for naturalisation certificate copies. The certification process for naturalisation certificates is more complex than the general record copying service. This multi-stage process ensures the integrity and authenticity of certified naturalisation certificates, which are often required for legal and official purposes, and the new charge reflects the full costs involved.
The fee structure now also includes two new routes for access to historic Ministry of Defence service personnel records via a bespoke digital service, Request A Military Service Record. This new offer, starting on 2 February 2026, will provide a speedier and better-quality service and will allow us to address the high demand for access since the service personnel records began arriving at The National Archives in 2021. To date we have received 8.2 million personnel records with approximately 2.6 million already available to search on our catalogue.
The National Archives does not make a profit from charging, as the fees reflect how much it actually costs to deliver our services today.
The vast majority of the records in our collection which are open and searchable on our catalogue can still be viewed for free in our reading rooms at Kew.
The new Fees Regulations can be viewed at legislation.gov.uk
Read more information on the new Fees Regulations
Read more information on the new Request a Military Service Record service
The Request a Service Record service will cost a whopping £42.25 for digital copies and £47.16 for print copies, standard service, plus postage and packing. The rate includes a search fee and copying fee.
Note the following:
The implementation date is Monday 2 February 2026. Any requests received prior to this date will go into the current system and will not be charged. Requests received on or after 2 February 2026 will go into the new service and if requesting the standard service, users will receive their information within 30 working days.
(With thanks to TNA via email)
Chris
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