diff --git a/LCS/MessageBus/src/message.py b/LCS/MessageBus/src/message.py
index c4824bb03c8faf69e7b4933fab9fba2d40433a22..8bc64109eaf8317a8af3b2dd2f97f43614077b2e 100644
--- a/LCS/MessageBus/src/message.py
+++ b/LCS/MessageBus/src/message.py
@@ -199,6 +199,9 @@ class MessageContent(object):
             qpidMsg.body = qpidMsg.body.decode('utf-8')
 
         plIdx = qpidMsg.body.find('<payload>')
+        if isinstance(qpidMsg.body, bytes):
+            qpidMsg.body = qpidMsg.body.decode('utf-8')
+
         if plIdx != -1:
           plIdx += len('<payload>')
           plEndIdx = qpidMsg.body.rfind('</payload>', plIdx)