Tourists are being urged to renew their passports now, as they have just one week left before the application fee rises. The cost to replace your document will rise by about 9 per cent on Thursday, February 2.
These increases, which serve to improve government services, will vary across online and paper forms, affecting fees for both children and express applications.
From next week, it will cost £82.50 to replace an expired passport through an online form - a £7 increase from the current price of £75.50. Renewing your child's passport this way is to rise by £4.50 from £49 to £53.50.
The price to apply for a passport through the standard paper form will rise from £83 to £85, while increasing to £54 from £58.50 for kids. Anyone looking to renew it this way can collect a form from their local post office, reports the Mirror.
Fast-track passports, which renew them within a week, prices rising to £155 for adults and £126 for children. This is £13 and £4 up respectively from the current price of £142 and £122.
For those who need the quickest turnaround, the premium passport services, which get you a new passport within the same day, are going up by nearly £20 to £193.50. The same fees apply regardless of whether you're applying for your first passport, renewal or to replace a lost, stolen or damaged passport.
These increases, according to the Passport Office, will “help enable the government to continue improving its services”. The Home Office, which runs the Passport office, added that fees will help its system evolve to one that relies less on general taxation funding.
The Passport Office has not changed its advice on processing times in response to the change in prices however there is a risk that a surge in applications to beat the price rise will put more pressure on the system. The authority added: "The Government does not make any profit from the cost of passport applications."
The turnaround time to renew the old burgundy EU passport used to be just two to three weeks in 2019. Now, however, you need to allow up to 10 weeks for the turnaround according to an investigation published by the National Audit Office (NAO) in December last year.
The 10-week period is the current target for the Passport office, so you should be aware that it could also take longer so if your passport is expiring in the next three months, the earlier you apply the better.
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