Passport Office staff are “too afraid” to speak about their working conditions, and morale is at an “all-time low” as they attempt to ease the application backlog, MPs have heard. Labour MP Mary Kelly Foy said civil servants working for the Passport Office at its base in her City of Durham constituency are “under immense pressure” as a result of the Government’s “failure to prepare” for an increase in applications.
The MP revealed the conditions staff are facing as Labour failed in a bid to censure Home Office minister Kevin Foster and force him to apologise to the Commons over his handling of the passport application backlog, which has left some families unable to go on holiday this year. The motion was rejected by 295 votes to 198, majority 97.
Ms Foy shared the experiences from “brave whistleblowers” based at the Durham site, telling the Commons: “There appears to be widespread mismanagement and structural issues that are slowing the attempts to clear the backlog. These problems include delays in the full rollout of the digital application programme system, incorrect advice being given by the helpline outsourced to Teleperformance, inefficiencies and errors from private contractors such as Sopra Steria, and the double handling of applications.
