The National Archives Reviews 

I requested to see my Grandfathers service records he served in British India in the 9th Lancers regiment. I was led to believe that the cost of releasing them would be £48. I provided quite a lot of evidence of his service as I had researched some of it a few years ago.
A few weeks later I received a reply informing me that they could not trace him and they needed more detail. This I managed to provide through ai and other sites. A few more weeks went by and I received a similar response, no trace of records as they had probably been burnt in a fire! Graciously the NA offered me a refund of around nine pounds. I think this daylight robbery on their part. It doesn’t take long to put a name into a search engine, and they are conning the public. Beware!

'View The Doomsday Book online at the National Archives' they say but in truth, nothing can be viewed online. A pointless website which is so confusing and so dysfunctional you might as well pay a visit in person if you want to read anything although good luck with that given the cost of travel and access! Seems The National Archives like to make access as difficult as possible.

A delightful place to carry out research with welcoming, courteous and knowledgable staff. My only complaint would be the area where the computers are has become really noisy with students(?) shouting and making such a racket that it is difficult to concentrate.

My experience with The National Archives highlights a service that is overly process-driven and poorly aligned with the user experience.

Following a straightforward request for a historical document, the process moved through multiple stages — enquiry, confirmation of references, payment, and delivery — but at no point did it feel joined up or transparent.
Combined with rigid, compartmentalised responses to earlier queries, the overall impression is of a system designed around internal cumbersome, and lengthly processes, rather than commercial customer needs.
For a paid service, greater clarity, accuracy in communication, and basic delivery transparency should be expected.

i visited the love letters exhibition at national archives in kew on 25/01/26 & couldn’t recommend it more! the exhibition itself was fascinating & beautifully curated – a really touching look at love through history; what made it even more special was the gentleman who welcomed us when we arrived - he was so friendly, warm & genuinely welcoming (&even gave us love heart sweets at the end, which was a lovely touch!) the whole place has a very calm atmosphere & i highly recommend :)

In early 2023 I applied to the Army Records Office in Glasgow for a copy of my mothers Service Record whilst serving in the ATS during World War Two. They responded very quickly, as they had on a previous occasion, but this time advising that because the required record had been transferred across to The National Archive, my request had been redirected to them.

Quite quickly I received an acknowledgement from TNA and was advised that, due to pressure of work, I might have to wait three months before a copy of the record could be supplied. I sat back and waited.

Over the next two and a half years I received about four further updates from TNA saying the same thing - they were busy and the wait time was three months. This got to be a little wearing and I responded on at least two occasions pointing out that I actually had been waiting a lot longer than three months already without making any progress at all. I did not get very helpful or understanding replies!

One month ago in November 2025 TNA emailed me a one time offer saying either they could let me have a brief overview of the Service Record within the next four weeks - I had to respond with one week - or, if I rejected this offer, I could continue in the queue indefinitely waiting for the full version.

I am almost 78 now and not in the best of health so I opted for the overview which has now been emailed to me. It did seem to me that something, anything, would be better than nothing at all considering that I might well be through the Pearly Gates by the time that the information was provided. When applying in 2023 I did expect paper photocopies but a PDF file seems to be the best TNA are able now to provide.

My mother had a service career spanning almost four years (1941 to 1945) and after waiting since January 2023 TNA have been able to supply me with just four pages of information. One of these four is the cover page. Not quite what I had expected.

I have not been impressed by The National Archive at all. The service on offer is poor to say the least, the communication is sporadic and inaccurate and the 'gun to the head offer with acceptance deadline' is not what I believe Freedom of Information is all about.

A delightful place to carry out research with welcoming, courteous, and knowledgeable staff. My only complaint would be how noisy the computer area has become with students(?) shouting and making such a racket it’s difficult to concentrate.

Blooming marvellous. You can set up a free account, its one of my favourite go tos for research on the Great War and beyond. Big government has got somethign right here. I have visited the archive on several occasions in person both at Chancery Lane and Kew Gardens and found it thorough and easy to use.

It was my first time using the National Archives online for relatives who died in the 1st WW.
The web site is very complicated to use. Lots of errors. The search engine was unable to find my Great Uncle who died in France from the initial search. The information I provided was correct!
I tried other methods and eventually found the medal record for him.... so I thought??
When I looked at the archived records, they were for other relatives, same surname different Christian names! Good job I didn't pay for copies!
I have no faith in using this organisation.

Try and get something sorted with these people if you are disabled and you'll be shit out of luck. Because they can't even be arsed to have systems in place for disabled people so that they can access anything. And when you bring this up you are the problem. Well my mate has been treated appallingly by these people for over a year. They continue to fob him off and flat out ignore him when he tells them that he is disabled. Because they don't care. He is too much hassle. So they make policy that makes it impossible for him and others like him to even talk to them. They are all be ashamed of themselves. Are their mothers proud of how they essentially abuse the disabled so that they don't have to put up with them. Disgusting

Great exhibition BUT queueing system was utter chaos. No one knew what was happening
We were told not to wait in but go away -coffee, and come back in an hour but when we came back we had to go to end of queue and wait another hour
Understand queues, waiting but at least have a system

I have visited The National Archives twice and use the website continually. I cannot say enough good about the services provided. It's a wonderful, bright, clean environment to do research in, and the people that work there were very patient and accommodating. The number of documents being digitized is astounding (especially wills going back to medieval times), and the price of purchasing the files available online is very reasonable. The website is easy to use, and many record indices are complete enough that you don't even have to see the original. Parking was nearby, adequate on the occasions I visited, and reasonably priced for being in the thick of the action in Kew! Plenty of nearby places to grab some lunch on the way to or from. I loved the gift shop, also. I plan to return on my nest visit to the UK.

Paid £8 for a record search of my father’s service records, fair do’s. Record was located and for a coloured facsimile of the record they wanted £222 ?

Do what ?

My fee for a paid search of £24.35 has been taken twice from my bank and no one can help me!
I have been onto the Live Chat line 3 times with lengthy on line chats with no success . The telephone number I rang is merely an answerphone service .
What a terrible service . It’s bad enough that you have to wait a long time for the report but the double payment is a joke .

Provided MOD file reference and paid £24.50 research fee in Dec2023 for copy of relative’s Army service record. TNA advised requests processed in strict order of date received and lead time was 6 months (reconfirmed in May 2024). Nothing received yet after 11 months. Lead time is now advised as 10-12 months due to volume of requests (12000). Given that now they are sitting on nearly £300,000 of paid fees, this TNA service is understaffed and underperforming.

Very confusing website.
But not to have the 1921 census free of charge is scandalous. So I have to join two heritage websites now thanks to the National Archives. Perhaps you should do membership packages and people could simply pay you. But I have to join both UK Ancestry and Find my Past. Great.
It should really be free information. It isn't.

Everything was right about dealing with the National Archive. Their website is easy to use, getting a reader's ticket was simple and the search engine is excellent. When I went to the building to do my research everyone was helpful and friendly and the whole process was very efficient.

Spent the day at the NA in Kew. Absolutely brilliant! Staff eager to help and nothing was too much trouble for them. Thank you.

Good. Accessible. Reliable.

Checked this out as I fancied a couple of retro posters and they have a huge selection here.
So I got all my info from their website and my review concerns the pricing policy only.
You actually buy a file image ranging in size from about 1.5 to 3.5Mb on average.
For each file they charge a staggering 'supply fee' of £38.50 plus VAT , £46!!!
WHAT! I had to re-read a few times to verify as I couldn't believe it. These are the National Archives, doesn't that mean they are OURS ?.

[You can print as many as you like for private use only ,so if you want 1000 identical pics then this might be a good idea but like most people I only wanted one poster each of a few different designs[