Apply for an Investigation into Undue Delay

You can only ask the Service Complaints Ombudsman for the Armed Forces (SCOAF) to investigate undue delay when:

  • You believe there has been undue delay in the handling of a Service Complaint you have made; or
  • You believe there has been undue delay in the handling of a Service Matter you have raised; and,
  • The Service Complaint or Service Matter is still open.

A Service Matter is any matter that has been raised with the Service and could potentially be a Service Complaint, but a Service Complaint has not been made. This could mean you have:

  • Made an informal complaint
  • Submitted an Annex F/written statement of complaint, but an admissibility decision has not yet been made.

What if my Service Complaint is now closed?

If you exhausted the internal process and think that the delays in handling your Service Complaint were unfair, you can make an application for a maladministration investigation.

What is Undue Delay?

There is no legal definition of undue delay, but in general terms it means that the time taken to do something has been unwarranted or excessive.

If you need any further information, or assistance to complete this form, please phone 0300 369 0689 or email contact@scoaf.org.uk

If you would like to fill in a PDF version of this form instead, go to our Downloads Page

  • Section 1 – Your personal details
  • Section 2 – Details of the alleged Undue Delay
  • Section 3 - Privacy statement
  • Section 4 - Consent
  • Checklist
  • Complete
Title
What is your preferred method of contact?
Please tick which Service you are, or were, in
Are you, or were you previously, a Reservist?
Are you currently serving?
It doesn’t matter if you have changed units since you made your Service Complaint or raised your Service Matter.
If you are no longer serving, please provide the details of your last unit.
It is really important that we can contact you if we need to follow up on something to do with your application. Please let us know if there are certain days or times when we can’t contact you – including periods of leave or deployment. If we can’t contact you, we might have to close your case on our system.
Reasonable adjustment
Sometimes, because of a disability or long-term health condition, people need to ask us to make changes to the way we do things so that they are not disadvantaged.
This could include providing information in plain language or a different format.
You can find more information about reasonable adjustment on our website.