The UK Government has issued an update on passport applications after people hoping to travel abroad this summer were warned to renew theirs "as soon as possible" by a senior minister.
Prior to the covid pandemic, people were advised of waits of around three weeks. But processing times can now take up to 10 weeks, according to HM Passport Office.
Home Office minister Kevin Foster said his advice remains unchanged and anyone heading overseas this summer should submit new passport applications and renewals as soon as possible. But he added in the House of Commons: "We are making a range of efforts - staff are working weekends, incentivised overtime - and certainly we're confident we will not need to change the 10-week target."
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MPs heard that HM Passport Office provides an expedited service where an application from the UK has been with them for longer than 10 weeks, with Mr Foster confirming 42 applications have been pushed through under this criterion since March 31.
A total of 9.5 million British passport applications are expected to be dealt with in 2022, with covid restrictions on travel resulting in just four million applications in 2020 and five million in 2021 by comparison. Labour urged ministers to "get a grip" rather than float the prospect of privatising HM Passport Office.
Mr Foster, responding to an urgent question from shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper, said March saw the "highest total for any month on record, with HM Passport Office completing the processing of over one million applications - 13% higher than the previous record output".
He added that more than 90% of applications were issued within six weeks in the period between January and March, saying: "My advice to anyone who is looking to go on holiday this summer is exactly what I said the other day, which is to get your application in now."
For Labour, Ms Cooper warned: "My constituents fear their honeymoon may now be wrecked because their passports haven't arrived, even though they applied in plenty of time. We've had cases of people cancelling jobs, parents trying to get holiday for a sick child waiting since January, huge long delays by the Passport Office and by the contractor TNT.
"The message today on the one-week fast track service says 'System busy, please try again later', and the online premium service has no appointments anywhere in the country.
"So people can't get urgent travel such as to go to funerals or to go to urgent events." Ms Cooper said the increase in demand was "totally predictable", adding the Home Office is "in danger becoming a stay-at-Home-Office".
On Tuesday, a senior Government source said Prime Minister Boris Johnson is ready to "privatise the a**e" out of the Passport Office amid fears that families could miss out on their summer holidays due to delays in renewing their documents. Earlier, Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said the Government is willing to consider changing the controller of passport services, but no decision has yet been taken.
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