Referral - I'd like my Complaint referred to the Service

A Referral is a letter from the Service Complaints Ombudsman for the Armed Forces (SCOAF) to your Service that says you want to make a Service Complaint. It will be sent to the Service Complaints Secretariat for your Service. They will then determine who will deal with it. This will usually be your chain of command or former chain of command if you are no longer serving.

The Ombudsman cannot make Referrals about issues that happened before 2008.

A Referral:

  • Can be made for current or former Service personnel.
  • Places a legal obligation on the Service to find out if the individual wants to make a formal complaint and get the process started.
  • Requires the Ombudsman to be updated after key events.
  • Is not a formal Service Complaint.
  • Cannot be made about the same issue you have already submitted a formal complaint (in writing) to your chain of command about the same issue.
  • Is not the start of an investigation by the Ombudsman.
  • Does not mean the Ombudsman thinks that any complaint made following a referral should be upheld.
  • Does not prevent informal resolution.

A Service Complaint normally needs to be made within 3 months of the date of the wrong being complained about. Submitting this application form, or a referral, does not “stop the clock” on this time limit. The only way to “stop the clock” is to submit a completed Annex F or written statement of complaint to your Service Secretariat Central Admissibility Team (CAT).

If you need 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

  • Your personal details
  • What do you want the Ombudsman to refer?
  • Privacy Statement
  • Consent
  • Preview
  • Complete
Title
Gender
Are you currently serving?
Are there any restrictions on when/how we can contact you?
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.
Please provide all details of when or how we can contact you below.
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.