I understand the current frustration for constituents waiting on passports this year.
Below I have provided you with information on HM Passport Office, when the 10 week service time commences, what you must do when applying and how priority travel is determined.
- On an average year, HM Passport Office produce around 7 million passports.
- During the pandemic 5 million expired.
- During the pandemic children were born who will require passports.
- In March of this year 1 million passports were produced (replicating this would therefore mean 12 million passports in a year).
- 900 additional staff have already been recruited to support the increased demand
- 500 additional employees are being sought.
- Since April 2021, the service time has been 10 weeks. Applicants are asked to allow at least 10 weeks for their passport to arrive.
- In the expectation of increased demand, HM Passport Office have advertised this regularly since April 2021.
- My office experience is the majority of constituents have been applying from Spring 2022. It is the same for other constituencies across the country.
Applicants are under the impression that once their application is submitted, whether in paper form or on-line, the 10 weeks commences. This is not the case and hopefully the following is helpful so that you can plan or be aware of the situation:
- The 10 week timeline commences when all supporting documentation is provided: your expiring passport, full birth certificate (not the short one) and a marriage certificate, if appropriate.
- Original documents are required. Constituents must check the supporting evidence required.
- If your passport is lost/stolen you must provide HMPO with a reference number of this being registered with them.
- If HMPO need to ask you to send documents, your timeline will not start until those documents are received.
Due to the demand, HM Passport Office prioritise passports for those who need to travel on compassionate or urgent medical grounds. Booked travel does not guarantee passports will be issued, although the department are trying to meet these requests.
If you contact the prioritisation number, staff will note your reason for wishing to expedite your passport. At that time, the HM Passport Office will not take payment or confirm the department are able to provide it. HM Passport Office will not make any contact with you to acknowledge this request or contact you until 24-48 hours prior to your travel. The department will only contact you if your passport is able to be provided and you will most likely need to travel to a Passport Office to collect your passport.
I completely understand this is very upsetting and stressful for those who wish to travel but I hope this explains how HM Passport Office are working to manage the demand. The situation will improve. I am more than happy to help if there are compassionate grounds, but holiday travel bookings are not applications where MPs have any influence.
Finally, if you have a friend who says, “My MP called and my passport arrived 24 hours later”, the application was already on its way. We really do not have that power!
