Your Feedback And Our Response - Get Involved

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We welcome your feedback as it helps us to improve what we do and continue to deliver high quality services in line with the Customer Service Excellence standard. You can contact us directly with your feedback.

This page was last updated in February 2026.

Comments and requests

What you said What we have done
We received feedback that the lockers in our public cloakroom were difficult to use, and that the locks were faulty, making it challenging for visitors to store their belongings before visiting our Reading Rooms. We have recently completed the installation of new locks on the five hundred lockers in our public cloakroom.
We have been informed that it is difficult to report issues found in our public bathrooms. Our Facilities teams have installed feedback stations in the public bathrooms across site. These are automated feedback solutions that allow visitors to select an issue to report, which automatically raise jobs on our Estates and Facilities team’s job tracking portal.

A number of visitors highlighted that it was not very clear how they could offer donations to archives, or enquire about donating material.

 We created a webpage that explains the donation process in detail, and links to a specific team to contact as a liaison if an enquirer thinks The National Archives is the correct place of deposit for their records.

Compliments

Here are some examples of compliments, which we receive in a number of ways, including email, feedback form and letter, to telephone calls, social media and in person.

Date received How received Summary of compliments
22 January Email I would like to express my gratitude to ***** and all others who directed me to steps needed to request documents, find them, digitize them, and email them. The whole process was extraordinarily intuitive, seamless, and easy. UK Archives is by far the best online experience I have ever had with any archive. (CAS-311679)
20 January Email Dear people, it is wonderful to read about your upcoming Love Letters Exhibition opening 24 January. As I live in Western Australia I am unable to attend. I wish I could. However I will look forward to reading stories, images and other content as you post them online. It’s a marvellous idea for an exhibition and you hold such great historical information. My forebears of course go back to the UK for generations and I therefore feel a strong connection to the records you hold. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you do. (CAS-310688) Find out more about the current Love Letters exhibition and programming here: Love Letters – The National Archives
9 December Email I just wanted to pass on my sincere THANKS to those responsible for maintaining these record archives. The information contained within here is unbelievable! My uncle flew with 467 Squadron during WW2. He was shot down and killed [in] 1943 over Germany. Through your amazing records, I was able to learn so much about him and his squadron, including obtaining details of his last flight through the official Flight Record Log. I can’t tell you how much this means to our family. I just want to express my extreme gratitude for being able to access this information. (CAS-302526)

Complaints

Here are some examples of complaints, which we receive in a number of ways, including email, feedback form and letter, to telephone calls, social media and in person.

Summary of complaint and date received Background information Action taken
The complainant was dissatisfied that two crucial documents at the National Archive were in use upon arrival, causing them to feel inconvenienced due to receiving the unavailability notifications only after arriving.

(CAS-303709) 16/12/2025

 Readers can book a visit to view original documents. Readers may order documents during their visit, but booking in advance allows readers to order up to 12 original documents which are made available upon their arrival. Documents are sometimes in in use by other users during visits, but our staff are often able to resolve this during the day to ensure the reader can view the documents in question. We apologised to the complainant and acknowledged the issue of documents being in use by other users during visits. We explained that visitors are advised to indicate priority documents or request contact if key documents are unavailable when booking, though advance notice is limited to the working day before the visit due to space constraints. We acknowledge that the current ordering system lacks remote order status or history review, but future improvements are planned to address this gap and enhance user experience. The complainant later clarified that they had been able to view the documents during the afternoon.
The complainant was dissatisfied that The National Archives is introducing fees to access WW2 service records, highlighting concerns for those unable to pay due to the cost.

(CAS-302147) 05/12/2025

 The Ministry of Defence (MoD) service records project at The National Archives involves the transfer of approximately ten million personnel service records for permanent preservation. The project, which began in 2021, is the largest and most complex transfer of public records in TNA’s history. In February 2026, we introduced a new fee for accessing Ministry of Defence service personnel records. We apologised to the complainant and explained the reasons for the introduction of fees to access these records, clarifying that these are designed to cover only the costs of service provision, aligned with HM Treasury guidance. There are two access options for Ministry of Defence Service Personnel Records from February 2026, including a more affordable Standard option alongside the Full Record Check to better meet user needs. We also informed the complainant of the alternative free methods to view the open records in our reading rooms and using Ancestry subscriptions available at The National Archives or local libraries.
The complainant was dissatisfied that they could not securely store their foldable bike inside the National Archives building.

(CAS-296132) 08/11/2025

 We have bicycle racks in our pocket park. We explained that foldable bicycles are not allowed inside the building due to health and safety risks, potential property damage, fire hazards (especially with e-bikes), security concerns, and space limitations in visitor locker areas.

External feedback

Below is a selection of external feedback sites where users can leave independent feedback about our services: The National Archives on Trip Advisor Google Reviews

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