Lucia Thompson and her partner, British nationals living in Australia, have been told they have to wait 13 weeks for their newborn baby’s British passport to arrive. They are getting married in the UK next month. the ceremony was postponed twice due to Covid. “We applied for our son’s passport in March as soon as the birth certificate was issued,” Thompson told the Guardian Money. “The helpline told us we should have left more time, even though we had no control over when our baby was born. The cost of the wedding is about 40,000 pounds, not to mention the cost for the guests who fly in, and our insurance does not cover us for passport issues “. Meanwhile, thousands of families are facing holiday losses that have been closed for this summer due to delays. Weeks after the Guardian reported problems to the government service, the backlog has not been addressed, and this week lawmakers accused her of doing “utter disaster”. The Home Office urges travelers to submit their passport applications “as soon as possible” as the new 10-week processing target is repeatedly violated. Travelers have hundreds of pounds left in their pockets because they can not fly because their new passports did not arrive on time. Some waited up to five months from applying. Vacationers have complained about a system crashing, with non-contact with customer service, processing errors and a lack of high-cost fast-track appointments. Others claim that their applications were delayed or even terminated because the Passport Office failed to register the documents. According to the Home Office, more than 5 million people have applied for passports since the Covid restrictions expired. The introduction by the EU of post-Brexit rules requiring passports to be valid for at least three months has added to the pressure, with MEPs accusing the Passport Office of not being sufficiently prepared for a “projected” increase in demand. Simon Hoar, the Conservative MP for North Dorset, told parliament that the Passport Office’s helpline disappoints applicants who are desperate to keep track of their applications. “Voters who go abroad for a family funeral, vacation or business do not come to the office and lie to officials when they do,” he said. Service shortages from the Passport Office’s courier company, TNT, are exacerbating delays, with some deliveries lasting weeks. Passport checks at Gatwick. The Passport Office advises people to wait up to 10 weeks for their new document to arrive. Photo: Oli Scarff / Getty A spokesman for the Passport Office told the Guardian Money that it had increased its staff by 500 last year to meet demand and reached a record number of applications in March. He said more staff was being hired than the private contractor running the service improvement line and that Royal Mail and DHL had contracted to help with deliveries. “We have been advising people to allow up to 10 weeks to apply for their British passport, as more than 5 million people have been delayed in applying due to the pandemic,” said one spokesman. “We urge people who need a new passport to apply for one as soon as possible. “The vast majority of all passport applications are processed well within 10 weeks.” A TNT spokesperson said: “We have taken a number of steps to restore service levels in the HM Passport Office network – including operational resources, additional team support and additional customer support resources – and are currently operating within the service level requirements agreed upon with the Home Office. “We apologize to any customer who has encountered a delay in the delivery of their passport and we will continue to work with HMPO to resolve individual cases.”
