diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 318a7c796..1cd4fddc3 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+### Fixed
+- Check Environment Variable value for Allowed Change Ref Types ([#1252](https://github.com/opendevstack/ods-core/issues/1252))
+
 ## [4.3.0] - 2023-07-03
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/jenkins/webhook-proxy/main.go b/jenkins/webhook-proxy/main.go
index df6f58b3a..e6604dd9c 100644
--- a/jenkins/webhook-proxy/main.go
+++ b/jenkins/webhook-proxy/main.go
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ const (
 	allowedExternalProjectsEnvVar  = "ALLOWED_EXTERNAL_PROJECTS"
 	allowedExternalProjectsDefault = "opendevstack"
 	allowedChangeRefTypesEnvVar    = "ALLOWED_CHANGE_REF_TYPES"
-	allowedChangeRefTypesDefault   = "BRANCH"
+	allowedChangeRefTypesDefault   = "branch"
 	namespaceSuffix                = "-cd"
 	letterBytes                    = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"
 )
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ func main() {
 
 	var allowedChangeRefTypes []string
 	envAllowedChangeRefTypes := strings.ToLower(os.Getenv(allowedChangeRefTypesEnvVar))
-	if len(allowedChangeRefTypes) == 0 {
+	if len(envAllowedChangeRefTypes) == 0 {
 		allowedChangeRefTypes = strings.Split(allowedChangeRefTypesDefault, ",")
 		log.Println(
 			"INFO:",
@@ -402,7 +402,7 @@ func (s *Server) HandleRoot() http.HandlerFunc {
 				} else {
 					kind = "forward"
 				}
-				if !includes(s.AllowedChangeRefTypes, req.Changes[0].Ref.Type) {
+				if !includes(s.AllowedChangeRefTypes, strings.ToLower(req.Changes[0].Ref.Type)) {
 					log.Println(requestID, fmt.Sprintf(
 						"Skipping change ref type %s as %s does not include it",
 						req.Changes[0].Ref.Type,