At 6 months we received a standard email to say they were sorry for the delay which had been caused by an IT glitch and they would contact us when the process was complete.
At 8 months we contacted our MP. The MP contacted the powers that be and forwarded their reply to us. Basically it said don’t call us, we’ll call you. The response to the MP said that processing involved lots of different agencies and that they required responses from them and that was causing was a delay.
It is 9 months today.
Our application was straight forward. My US husband contributes to the community volunteering as a DJ on local radio, owns a house, is part of a choir that sings to raise money for charity, has applied to do voluntary work with RAF cadets, pays his taxes, has not overstayed any visa, has no criminal record and is in his mid 60s.
To say it is frustrating is an understatement.
I do think it is worth contacting your MP - just in case it jogs them into doing something. Plus it gives you a bit of a paper trail.
When (I am being positive) we hear something I will let everyone know. Please let us know how your application goes.