National Archives changes to fees and copying service

The National Archives based at Kew, England, has announced that it is making changes to both its fees for for research, paper and digital copies of our records, as well as to its copying services.

With regard to its fees changes, details for all new costs from February 2016 are presented at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/summary-of-costs-feb-2016.pdf. Amongst the most significant increases is the fact that digital downloads for records will increase in price to £3.45 each, up from the previously established cost of £3.30 (in April 2014), whilst self-service black and white copying will increase from 25p per item to 30p, up to a size of A3. Further details are at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/legal/our-fees.htm.

With regard to its copying request service, a new system is being implemented by the archive - see http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/news/changes-to-our-record-copying-service/ for further details on this. In summary, TNA is introducing a new first step to the process: a paid-for page check, costing £8.24. Once the documents requested are identified, the charges for actually having them copied will change, both for digital and paper copies - documents up to A3 in size will now both cost £1.10 per copy. Previously digital copies cost £3.50 and paper copies £1.30, so this a reduction - however, with the new first step cost of £8.24, for many this may actually see an increase in the amount needed to be paid in total.

Note that the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (www.proni.gov.uk) will also soon be announcing major changes to its fees schedules.

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. My Pinterest account is at https://www.pinterest.com/chrismpaton/.