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Army HIVE Christmas and New Year Closures

The majority of Army HIVEs will be closed after duties on Fri 19 Dec 25 and will reopen on Mon 5 Jan 26. There may be localised variations to these dates for individual HIVEs.

Army HIVE HQ is also closed during the festive fortnight, so any enquiries submitted via the ‘If you need further information’ MS Forms function on our UK, Cyprus or Overseas blogs will be answered when we return in the New Year.

We will periodically cover private messages on our Army HIVE Facebook platform (and X/Instagram where possible) whilst we are closed. However, this will not be 24/7 and should not be relied upon for anything that requires an urgent response.

To support our customers with more immediate requirements however, the Army HIVE HQ email will provide a comprehensive out of office autoreply, detailing points of contact that are either 24/7, emergency providers, or open over the festive leave fortnight. To receive this autoreply, please email:
RC-Pers-HIVEComms-0Mailbox@mod.gov.uk

Individual HIVEs will also provide localised contact details for Christmas and New Year cover wherever possible in their automated replies. Therefore, if you email your closest HIVE, which you can find on HIVE’s page on the Army website, their autoreply may be of additional assistance.

Army HIVE wishes all of its Service community customers, and our internal and external stakeholders, a very happy Christmas and New Year. We look forward to continuing our support and engagement in 2026.


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June 12, 2023

BFPO EU postal update - June 23

 

In January 2023, BFPO informed customers of important changes when sending mail and parcels via the BFPO system to European Union member states as part of the European Union Import Control System 2 requirement. It’s important to note that these changes are not unique to BFPO mail and will be applied to all worldwide mail.

Please click here for more information.

The main change to BFPO customers sending items to EU locations is the introduction of Harmonised System Codes which need to be included as part of the business to customer/e-commerce item customs declarations. As a basic rule, businesses who send international mail should already be including Harmonised System Codes as part of their item data declarations and from the 01 July 2023 any items addressed to EU locations that do not have mandatory data fields completed will be at risk of being delayed or even returned.


For Service Families:

The inclusion of Harmonised System Codes as part of the customs declaration requirement for Private BFPO Customers, posting items over a Post Office Counter remains undecided and BFPO will provide updates once these are confirmed by Royal Mail.

At this stage private customers are encouraged to read guidance on how to identify Harmonised System Codes which they may need before visiting their local Post Office to add to customs declarations.

Information regarding Harmonised System Codes and how to look them up can be found here and BFPO customers can also view Royal Mail guidance on international mail customs declarations here, which also includes a video guide on how to complete customs declaration forms.
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