The British Forces Post Office plays a pivotal role in connecting serving personnel and their families with goods and services. It assigns a BFPO address to each location, operation or exercise enabling mail to be routed effectively to personnel - wherever they are stationed.
Forces face difficulties
However, using the BFPO address in practice has often been problematic. Lt Col Ian Stark, SO1 Policy & Strategy at BFPO says: "The reality is that most computer systems are unable to recognise or handle a BFPO address. This prevents forces personnel from accessing many goods and services which are easily available to the civilian population. It is important that our armed forces and their families enjoy the same access to goods and services as other British citizens."
Part of the solution
To help solve this problem, AFD Software has worked with BFPO and Royal Mail to produce BFPO address data in a PAF® format, each address complete with its own 'postcode'. AFD has included this important new dataset immediately in all its name and address management solutions.
New Opportunity
Mike Newnham, Royal Mail's Chief Customer Officer said: "Royal Mail is intensely proud of its strong and enduring links with the armed services and we are delighted we have played our part in implementing this important initiative.
We understand how much service personnel and their families based overseas value being able to shop online and how they will benefit from gaining access to a range of online services too. We have been working closely with the BFPO to develop an address and postcode structure consistent with Royal Mail's Postcode Address File that will provide businesses with the opportunity to make these services available."
Lt Col Stark continued "Over time, we want to see easier access to financial services, government services and retail by the Armed Forces and their families. The work with Royal Mail and AFD Software in making BFPO data available with the Royal Mail Postcode Address File® represents a significant move forward toward that objective."
"Many thousands of men and women are sacrificially serving this country overseas. I hope
that by the simple act of adding the new Royal Mail/BFPO Postcode data to your computer system, you will support them, and make it far easier for them to use your products and services."
Former Head of the British Army, General The Lord Dannatt
GCB, CBE, MC
The BFPO mission is to provide an efficient and effective Postal and Courier Service in order to sustain the fighting power of UK armed forces worldwide. It provides a mail service to serving British Forces personnel and their families worldwide, including exercises and operations (limited services to operational theatres).
The BFPO headquarters is based in a purpose-built facility at RAF Northolt, in North West London. BFPO also has over ten Defence Mail Centres throughout the UK.
The Armed Forces Covenant is an agreement between the nation, the government and the armed forces and their families. Part of this covenant says:
"The Armed Forces Community should be able to participate as citizens to the same extent as any UK citizen…"
"Those who serve in the Armed Forces… and their families, should face no disadvantage compared to
other citizens in the provision of public and
commercial services."
Being able to supply British Forces may open up new opportunities for your organisation. From now, all AFD Postcode solutions include the BFPO data. Users simply enter a BFPO number or the new BFPO postcode to retrieve the BFPO address.
Where the goods or services you offer are relevant, our aim is to make it easy for you include Forces personnel, without the cost and inconvenience of having to change the structure of an existing address database.
What you need to do
To help you think things through please consider:
1. Technical Background. AFD Software BFPO FAQ. This covers important technical background. For example, any item sent to a BFPO address needs to include the number, rank, name, unit and subunit of the individual. You can access the FAQ document here: www.afd.co.uk/bfpo
2. Practical Issues. Royal Mail H M Forces Mail. This covers practical considerations such as restricted items, sizes, weights and how to send. It also links to the BFPO web site: www.royalmail.com/hmforces
3. Direct Agreement with BFPO. If your post is not sent via Royal Mail or Parcel Force your organisation will need to enter an agreement with BFPO. To find out more, please visit www.mod.uk/bfpo
What it means to be included
The Army Families Federation represents the Army family to the MOD and to Government: Catherine Spencer, Communication Director explains: "We receive regular communication which shows that the inability to recognise BFPO addresses is a real barrier to Army families wanting to access goods and services. Armed Forces Families want to be able to lead their normal lives overseas. They find the companies they want to order from are not able to handle BFPO addresses."
This issue extends to UK Government organisations. Catherine Spencer continues: "We know of cases where Child Benefit has not been paid for extended periods because BFPO addresses are not recognised."
"It is common that Army families posted overseas cannot use their address for security reasons or because it's more expensive to do so. When BFPO addresses are not recognised or accepted, it can feel like a lack of support for the British Armed Forces."
"Making it easier to use BFPO addresses without expensive changes to computer systems is a real step in the right direction."
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