Passport backlog swells to 550,000

MPs accuse boss of ‘complete failure’

THE backlog in passport applications soared to 550,000 at the end of June, MPs heard yesterday.

Members of the home affairs committee said families were being trapped in the ‘painful, excruciating’ process of renewing passports and accused one of the men in charge of the shambles of ‘complete failure’.

Ten per cent of applicants are waiting more than ten weeks, with the delays causing chaos for thousands who have missed holidays, weddings and business trips.

Thomas Greig, a director at HM Passport Office, was asked ‘Why have you failed so miserably?’ as he appeared before the committee. He revealed that some of his staff are still working from home.

He said the Passport Office started preparing last July for 9.5million passport applications in 2022 – up from 7million in a normal year following the lull caused by the pandemic.

Despite the planning, thousands of straightforward renewal applications are still taking months to process.

Diana Johnson, chairman of the committee, asked: ‘If you were planning for this from last July, so 12 months ago, it’s not rocket science, is it?’

With schools currently on holiday, many families will be preparing to travel – and are anxiously waiting for applications to be processed.

Queues have formed outside passport offices as holidaymakers scramble to get their documents in time.

The passport boss, who joined the home affairs committee virtually, was challenged over why his staff are still working from home. He insisted it was a ‘very small proportion’ who ‘can be as productive from home as they can be in the office’. He also raised eyebrows when he told MPs the reason they couldn’t get through to an emergency hotline was because it was closed due to the hot weather.

Tory MP Tim Loughton, who explained that his staff worked as normal in Parliament despite the heatwave, asked: ‘Why are all your staff so different?’

Mr Loughton said the delays were having an unprecedented impact on MPs’ workloads because staff were tied up helping constituents with applications. Mr Greig was told his ‘head is on the block for this’ and when a fire alarm went off in the background, Mr Loughton joked: ‘The Passport Office is on fire, unlike their service.’

Labour’s Carolyn Harris said trying to get in touch with the Passport Office for a constituent was ‘the most painful, excruciating call of my life’.

Mr Greig said the service was trying its best in the face of record applications and his team was working through about 60,000 a week.

Teleperformance, a company which runs the Passport Office’s phone line, failed to turn up to the committee to give evidence.

‘Your head is on the block’