Passport Office blasted for closing emergency MP hotline due to heat

2022-07-22

Too HOT for a hotline! Passport Office is blasted for suspending emergency phone line for MPs to get in touch to chase urgent visas… because officials had SHUT office due to the heatwave

The MP hotline was suspended because ‘various staff’ could not work in the heat
Line allows MPs to intervene for constituents in most urgent need for passports
Mr Greig admitted there were still 550,000 passport applications outstanding

HM Passport Office has been blasted for suspending its emergency MP hotline this week because staff complained it was too hot – despite the department facing a backlog of more than half a million applications.

During a grilling at a Home Affairs Committee on Wednesday, director Thomas Greig was answering questions on the performance of his teleworkers when he admitted that the service had ‘not been open’ on Tuesday.

The special hotline allows MPs to intervene on behalf of their constituents who most urgently need passports to get away this summer.

It comes after desperate holidaymakers who queued for hours outside passport offices were turned away Thursday unless they were due to leave Britain within 48 hours.

Images showed fed-up Brits slumped on the floor outside offices in Victoria, central London, with some having queued from as early as 5.30am.

Committee member and MP for East Worthing and Shoreham Tim Loughton, who complained of waiting over an hour and a half to get through the special MP hotline, became incensed on Wednesday when he heard it had been closed due to the heat.

He told Mr Greig: ‘All the MPs had been in our offices yesterday doing our job.

‘We were told that the Passport special office wouldn’t be open on Monday and Tuesday because of the weather, and when we kicked up they eventually found another room where they went and that wasn’t open all day as well.’

He added: ‘We’re here all day, my staff were in yesterday, mostly dealing with passport queries from constituents, so why are your staff so different from the rest of our staff?’

Mr Greig replied: ‘A decision was made to suspend that service, in particular because of the expected temperatures in the room we were working in… I think there were members of staff who for various reasons were unable to work in those temperatures.’

During a grilling at a Home Affairs Committee on Wednesday, director Thomas Greig (pictured) was answering questions on the performance of his teleworkers when he admitted that the service had ‘not been open’ on Tuesday.

Fed-up Brits sit on chairs while others perch on the floor outside the passport office in London Victoria on Thursday

Committee member and MP for East Worthing and Shoreham Tim Loughton (pictured), who complained of waiting over an hour and a half to get through the special MP hotline, became incensed on Wednesday when he heard it had been closed due to the heat

The commitee chair Diana Johnson (pictured) said she was ‘surprised’ at Mr Greig’s reasoning for not providing the service given that other people ‘were working all day’

The commitee chair Diana Johnson said she was ‘surprised’ at Mr Greig’s reasoning for not providing the service given that other people ‘were working all day’.

It comes as civil servants continue to struggle against the vast Covid backlog of passport applications.

Mr Greig, said there were still 550,000 applications outstanding by the end of last month, 10 per cent of which have been stuck in the system for more than 10 weeks.

Between 200,000 and 250,000 passports are currently being processed every week, he said, with 5million processed already this year – more than the whole of last year.

The forecast is for the total to hit 9.5m by the end of the year against an annual average of 7m.

Mr Greig, joining the Home Affairs Committee virtually after trains were cancelled, said waiting times of up to 10 weeks could continue for ‘months’.

He could not guarantee the three-week target for returning applications would be hit by the end of the year.

The backlog has reduced slightly from April, when it stood at around 700,000.

Britons trying to get their passport renewed have previously been left on hold for hours before being told by call agents working from home that they cannot access files to provide an update on applications.

The agents are employed by a private company.

Committee chair Diana Johnson slammed French multinational Teleperformance, which runs the Passport Office’s advice line, for failing to send a representative to be questioned, branding them ‘completely out of order.’

A HM Passport Office spokesman said: ‘Between March and May, we processed approximately three million applications, with 97.7% of applications processed within that timeframe in the first half of the year.

‘But we cannot compromise security checks and people should apply with plenty of time prior to travelling.

‘For the small percentage of customers whose applications take longer than ten weeks, there is an expedited service at no additional cost to help ensure that they receive their passport ahead of their travel.’

Yesterday, Cabinet minister Michael Gove cited the passport backlog as evidence the government was failing to deliver ‘certain essential functions’.

Between 200,000 and 250,000 passports are currently being processed every week, he said

Mr Gove, who was sacked as levelling up secretary by Boris Johnson for urging him to quit as Prime Minister, conceded that some services are ‘simply at the moment not functioning’.

Mr Gove told a discussion about what Conservatives want from the next prime minister that the state should ‘do fewer things’ but be ‘strong and effective’.

‘I believe that there are certain essential functions that the state needs to do better, and which we fail to deliver at the moment,’ he told the Policy Exchange event.

‘There are some core functions, giving you your passport, giving your driving licence, which is simply at the moment not functioning.’

He also raised ‘bureaucratic impediments’ on broader issues such as defence procurement.

‘We are no longer providing people, either with the efficient delivery of services or the effective focus on what the state should do,’ he said.

‘I think that’s because we have become a Government and an administration that is knocked off course by powerful stories that are told by people with a mission – and our own sense of mission has not been strong enough to resist that.’

After more than 12 years in Government, some critics have blamed the Conservatives for the problems but Lord Frost, the former Brexit minister, sought to apportion some blame to civil servants.

‘We’re always told that we have a Rolls-Royce and the problem is that ministers don’t make their will clear,’ he told the discussion.

‘Well, ministers made their will clear about coming back into the office several months ago and yet it is still not happening. So I believe there is something very fundamentally wrong in the way the Civil Service and the state is working.’

But Baroness Cavendish, a former director of No 10’s policy unit, was angered by his remarks, instead criticising ministers.

‘There are people on this panel who have been in government for the past few years and under you guys this stuff has fallen apart – so why haven’t you done anything about it?’ she said.

What’s going on? Why has the backlog in passport applications soared to 500,000? And what’s being done to solve the crisis?

What’s going on?

More than half a million Britons are struggling to get their passport applications processed.

A Passport Office boss has revealed that the backlog in applications soared to 550,000 at the end of June – with 10% waiting more than ten weeks.

Why is there a backlog?

HM Passport says more than 5m applications for passports were delayed during the pandemic because of international travel curbs as governments around the world effectively shut their borders in a bid to control the spread of Covid.

When Passport Office director Thomas Greig was challenged by furious MPs ‘why have you failed so miserably’ as he appeared before a committee, he admitted that staff are still WFH despite the scale of the backlog. The agency insists that WFH is not affecting the ability of its staff to process passport applications.

Is it worth heading down to a passport office without an appointment?

It depends. Holidaymakers who have been queueing outside the passport office in Victoria without an appointment say officials have been turning away anyone who is not leaving the UK in the next 48 hours.

The HM Passport Office website advises people applying for passports that they can expect to receive them within 10 weeks.

Those who need their passports more urgently can pay £177 to get them within two days through the Online Premium Service. This involves booking an appointment and getting your passport after a half hour meeting at a passport office.

Or they can pay £142 to get your passport delivered to your home using the Fast Track service – though this can take a week.

What is HM Passport Office doing to clear the backlog?

In April, the agency said:

It had increased staff numbers by 500 since April 2021 and was in the process of recruiting another 700. As of April 1, 2022 there are over 4,000 staff in passport production roles;
Additional staff are being recruited to assist with customer queries on the Passport Adviceline which is currently run by Teleperformance;
It has onboarded more delivery companies to ensure passports and supporting documents are delivered on time to customers;
It has increased availability for fast-track appointments and extended working hours across the seven HMPO public counters.

The Passport Office has previously blamed its backlog on more than five million people delaying their applications because of the coronavirus pandemic.

There were chaotic scenes as Britons arrived at the office in London Victoria at 5.30am yesterday morning – two hours before the doors even opened.

For many frantically trying to get their passport applications approved, it was their second or even third time trying.

One worried mother who applied for passports for both her sons in April but has only received one of them told MailOnline that they might have to cancel their planned trip to Alicante in Spain.

Another woman claimed that passport staff laughed at her down the phone as they told her ‘there’s nothing we can do’ after she called repeatedly for several days. Similarly, one man said he gave up trying to book an appointment with the Passport Office even after he got up at 6am every morning for three weeks.

Kirrby Gillis, 28, said: ‘We’ve been here since 5:50am. I’m waiting for my son’s passport. I applied for it on April 28 with my other son’s and got one back but not the other.

‘I came back on Monday and then yesterday and they told me I would have to come today, after waiting four hours.’

Asked what will happen if she could not get her passport that day she said: ‘I am going to basically have to tell both my sons that they can’t go to Spain with their grandparents. It would be unfair for only one of them to go. When I was here yesterday I saw someone who did not leave until 2pm.’

The Passport Office says more than 5m applications for passports were delayed during the pandemic because of international travel curbs as governments around the world effectively shut their borders in a bid to control the spread of Covid.

But when Passport Office director Thomas Greig was yesterday challenged by furious MPs ‘why have you failed so miserably’ as he appeared before a committee, he admitted that staff are still WFH despite the scale of the backlog. The agency insists that WFH is not affecting the ability of its staff to process passport applications.

Mr Greig also raised eyebrows when he revealed the Passport Office had failed to clear the backlog despite preparing for a surge in applications last July.

It even forced committee chairman Diana Johnson to exclaim: ‘If you were planning for this from last July, so 12 months ago, it’s not rocket science, is it?’

A Passport Office spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘The overwhelming majority of applications are completed within the published timeframe, with 97.7% of applications being processed within 10 weeks in the first half of this year.

‘But we cannot compromise security checks and people should apply with plenty of time prior to travelling.’

As the passport office opened, an official began asking people when they were flying out and turned away anyone not leaving within the next 48 hours.

Mirajan Safi, who is due to travel on Monday to Pakistan with his wife and three children, was told: ‘The decision is not mine, we have too many people to deal with and we have to deal with the most important cases.

‘There are people who are going before you, we can only deal with the people who are leaving within 48 hours.’

The 60-year-old said: ‘I applied for my son’s renewal passport in April and still yesterday I was trying to contact them on the phone. It is like firing in the air, no way.

‘And now, we see this, what he said. I spent all my day here, I came all the way from Romford. I was here from 5:30am and I do not know what will happen tomorrow. I am going to Pakistan to see my family. It is five years since we have been back.

‘I have bought tickets, everything, and I contacted my travel agent and they said I would still have to pay the costs if I couldn’t go.’

Asked if he will queue again at the same time tomorrow, he said: ‘Yes, if you are very late it is very difficult.

‘I have to find a hotel here. Even the basic hotels are £150. If I can’t get the passport tomorrow we will have to cancel the trip.’

In London Victoria this morning, Shaun Adekunbi was visiting the passport office for the third time, only 24 hours before his flight to Lagos, Nigeria.

He said: ‘We have to wait 10 weeks then if you turn up you have to fill out a form. I suppose they are trying to be fair and prioritise the people who are flying in 24 hours. It is my daughter’s passport, I am hoping to at least get it sorted today. We are going for my sister’s wedding.’

The 35-year-old bank worker added that if he was turned away now he would have to fly alone and leave his wife and children in London.

A long queue of desperate holidaymakers stand outside the passport office in London Victoria this morning

A passport official turns people who are not leaving the UK within the next 48 hours to go away

People sit on deck chairs in long queues outside the passport office in London Victoria early this morning

He continued: ‘Once you get to 24 hours before your flight rescheduling becomes an issue and then you have all the costs of rebooking and there is a ripple effect.

‘They tell you to wait because your flight is not a priority. They don’t let you in there if you have four days, they say you might still get it in the post. You miss work, you queue eight hours and then they go, you are not a priority you aren’t coming in.’

Zoe Haylock, 30, was in the queue with her baby daughter in a pram, trying to get passports for her two sons for a trip to Cyprus on Monday.

She said: ‘This is 14 weeks now for my two sons’ renewals. I was turned away about nine days before travel. They said it was not urgent enough.

‘They are absolutely useless. They gave me the option to escalate the application to fast-track two weeks before travel if I sent proof of travel but I never heard back.’

‘It’s been awful’: How British holidaymakers have been ‘laughed at’ by civil servants as they struggled to get their passports renewed

KIRSTY BURGE: ‘One passport official laughed at me down the phone and said there’s nothing he could do’

Kirsty Burge stands outside the passport office

Kirsty Burge emerged from the collection office in Victoria with her new passport in a brown envelope and said: ‘It has been disgusting, awful: so many phone calls, phoning every two days, being laughed at down the phone.

‘Every time I was asking what is happening with my application. And I was told there was nothing they could do, I would have to wait.

‘One man was making a cup of tea on the phone and started laughing.’

The 35-year-old salon manager, from Ashford in Surrey, said it was only when she emailed her local MP Kwasi Kwarteng that things began to move forward, 12 weeks after her initial application.

She said: ‘On Monday I emailed him saying the situation we are in, we’re going away and it has taken 12 weeks.

‘His secretary called me and she said she had a direct line for the Passport Office and about an hour later I was on the phone to the Liverpool office and they said my passport has been approved and printed and I just needed to come and pick it up.’

Ms Burge got her passport just one day before she was due to fly to France on holiday with her partner. She has spent weeks trying to get it after her old one was stolen.

She said: ‘My car was stolen and my handbag was in there with my passport inside.

‘I reported it stolen, but then it was found and I tried to stop it being cancelled – but they said I had to go through with the process.

‘They wanted me to pay £127 on top of the cost of everything else. I would recommend more people email their MP because no-one wants to help.

‘There are a few nice people on the phone, I think they need to do some more education or training with their staff. It’s like they are reading from a script.’

GRAHAM EVANS: ‘I got up at 6am every day for three weeks trying to get an appointment but eventually I just gave up’

Graham Evans stands waiting outside the passport office

Graham Evans, 63, said: ‘I heard that they uploaded new fast-track appointments at midnight so for three weeks I got up at 6am every day trying to get an appointment but eventually I just gave up.

‘I tried to get an appointment in May and throughout the month there were none available. So I did mine by the post office check and send and the reason I want to get mine urgently is because my mother-in-law is in failing health in Italy.

‘I spoke to the passport office and they said to provide proof of medical evidence first but I couldn’t do that. My wife couldn’t wait any longer so she flew to Italy last week and the rest of the family stayed here.

‘They should have foreseen that when then lockdowns and Covid restrictions were lifted there would be an enormous rush of people getting passports and they do not seem to have been geared up to deal with it.

‘I think once they realised the scale of the problem it was pretty much too late because they have clearly not been able to upscale the response effort in time.

‘I am pretty sure everybody standing here has got a good reason to be here. I myself have been here since 6:50am. There were people in front of me at that time.’

KIRRBY GILLIS: ‘If I can’t get my son’s passport, he’ll have to cancel his holiday to Spain with his grandparents’

Kirrby Gillis sat waiting outside the passport office

Kirrby Gillis, 28, said: ‘We’ve been here since 5:50am. I’m waiting for my son’s passport. I applied for it on April 28 with my other son’s and got one back but not the other.

‘I came back on Monday and then yesterday and they told me I would have to come today, after waiting four hours.’

Asked what will happen if she can’t get her passport today she said: ‘I am going to basically have to tell both my sons that they can’t go to Spain with their grandparents.

‘It would be unfair for only one of them to go. When I was here yesterday I saw someone who did not leave until 2pm.’

ALAN BUTLER: ‘I think my first application got rejected because I looked like a murderer’

Alan Butler stands outside the passport office

Alan Butler, 76, who is semi-retired and runs a printing business, said the process for him was relatively smooth.

He picked up his passport today only three weeks after applying and securing a fast-track appointment.

He said: ‘My first application got rejected because of my photo. I think I looked too much like a murderer. I left it quite late to apply because I didn’t realise it would take so long. My children have been telling me to get it done for months.

‘I got here about 8.30am and it has been pretty painless. I am going on holiday to Greece with some friends.’

The high school teacher said she would have to cancel the trip to her sister’s wedding on the Greek isle if she couldn’t get the passports sorted today.

She added: ‘We would lose all the money we paid, 10 days all-inclusive. It cost us about £5,800. Work have allowed me two days off to sort it out because of the amount of stress it has caused.

‘I have no other option I can’t come tomorrow or Saturday and the flight is 8 o’clock Monday morning. The office is not open Sunday. The only other option is to drive to Peterborough which is three-hours’ drive away. And there is no fast track.’

Graham Evans, 63, who was stood next to Ms Haylock in the queue, said: ‘I heard that they uploaded new fast-track appointments at midnight so for three weeks I got up at midnight and at 6am every day trying to get an appointment but eventually I just gave up.

‘I think once they realised the scale of the problem it was pretty much too late because they have clearly not been able to upscale the response effort in time.

‘I am pretty sure everybody standing here has got a good reason to be here. I myself have been here since 6:50am. There were people in front of me at that time.’

People waiting to go on holiday told how they only got their new passports after months-long battles with bureaucracy.

Kirsty Burge emerged from the collection office in Victoria, central London, with her new passport in a brown envelope and said: ‘It has been disgusting, awful: so many phone calls, phoning every two days, being laughed at down the phone.