Labour is calling for the Government to compensate people who have been told to pay additional fees to have their passport applications upgraded owing to delays at the passport office in the last few weeks. This should be a one-off pay-out introduced as part of Theresa May’s temporary measures to tackle the crisis that has engulfed the Home Office in recent weeks.
• The Home Secretary has agreed to provide a free upgrade to people waiting now. But over the last few weeks, lots of people were forced to pay £55 to have their passport applications fast tracked because the HMPO could not ensure their passport would be processed within the 3 week target timeframe
• In 2012/13, HMPO had a budget surplus of £73 million. The delays in processing have had the perverse consequence of generating more money for the passport office as people have been forced to pay for their applications to be fast tracked
• The Government should now pay back these additional fees to those who have had to upgrade through no fault of their own in the past few weeks.
Yvette Cooper MP, Shadow Home Secretary, said:
“Over the last few weeks, more and more people have come forward to share their stories of delays in passport applications. Many of them were told the only way of getting their passports before they travelled was by paying an additional fee to fast track the application. It is unacceptable that the Passport Office should make money out of their own incompetence in handling this situation and that people were being held ransom by a crisis engulfing the Home Office.
“Theresa May’s belated decision to allow a free upgrade to urgent passport applications is welcome, but it does nothing for all those people who have already been forced to pay. The Home Secretary has yet to offer an apology for her failure to get a grip on this crisis and is still offering nothing to compensate those people who have paid out for the chaos within her Department. She should remedy this immediately and pay back the fees to all those who had to pay for an upgrade through no fault of their own.“
David Hanson MP, Shadow Immigration Minister, said:
"People from across the country have had to pay more because the government have broken their own 3 week promise on delivery times; so I’m calling on the Theresa May to personally make an assessment of who had to pay to upgrade for a service they should have got anyway and to now refund that charge as a goodwill one off gesture.
“Free upgrades have been agreed for current applications, but what about those who have been caught up in this crisis for months? They shouldn’t have to pay the price of the Home Secretary’s mismanagement, and should get a refund of the upgrade charge they should never have paid.
“After all this service made a surplus last year of £73 million; giving people money the Home Office never budgeted for and are only getting because of mismanagement isn’t too much to ask is it?”
Government passport crisis:
• On 21st March David Hanson MP, Shadow Minister for Immigration, sends a letter to James Brokenshire Immigration Minister about a constituency case where someone had been waiting over three months since January 9th for a passport. In it, David clearly notes: “This seems to have been an unduly long delay"
• 15th May Letter from David Hanson MP to James Brokenshire, Immigration Minister, about why the case he wrote about on the 21st had not progressed and a further constituency cases, asking the Minister to review why these cases had taken so long, what was going on and CCing the Minister of Post Offices, Moira Green (Chief Executive of the Post Office) and Paul Pugh (Chief Executive of HM Passport Office) and Jo Swinson MP (Dept for Business, Innovation & Skills).
• On the 20th May David Hanson again wrote to the Minister James Brokenshire to say he had received a further two cases, and asked for the Minister to review them and to respond as to what was happening to cause these cases.
• On 20th May David Hanson also received his first email from a constituency colleague highlighting problems their constituents were having securing a passport, and the Daily Mail called and said they were working on a story after hearing of this issue amongst some MPs including on the Tory Benches.
• On 23rd May Daily Mail reports a 300,000 case backlog from whistle blower and revelations of the emerging crisis. David Hanson, said Ministers owed victims an ‘apology’, adding: ‘It’s unbelievable but yet again on Theresa May’s watch there’s a crisis in her department which is ruining people’s holidays, honeymoons and family visits"
• A spokesman for the Passport Office says “‘We have brought in extra staff to respond to the extra demand, we are operating seven days a week and our couriers are delivering passports within 24 hours of [them] being produced. There is no backlog, we have issued over three million passports so far this year and more than 98 per cent of straightforward passport renewals continue to be processed within three weeks.’"
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2637819/Passport-chaos-threatens-ruin-half-term-getaway-overwhelmed-staff-struggle-issue-documents-time.html#ixzz34XD9jgpC
• Between 26th – 30th May David Hanson receives messages from a growing number of individual MPs all with constituency cases where people are having to wait on average double the stated Government timescale for their passports.
• By 3rd June 70 Labour MPs had provided nearly 400 examples of constituents struggling to get their passports over the past 4-6 weeks, all of which have been referred to the Home Office by relevant MPs and have had constituency staff use the MP hotline.
• On 5th of June, as the first day back in Parliament a number of PQs are tabled by David Hanson and other backbench MPs on what is happening in the passport office, asking for details and times of when it might be resolved.
• On 7th June, a leaked email from Passport Office Chief Executive, Paul Pugh, was published showing that there were concerns about delays and pressure within the Passport Office
• On 8th June, claims by the PCS that there is a 500,000 case backlog are widely reported. David Hanson calls on the Government to come clean on the crisis:
‘In 22 years as an MP I’ve never had anything like the number of desperate individuals contacting my office and it seems many MPs are experiencing the same. These figures appear to bear out the experience of MPs from across the country that there is a major backlog in the delivery of Passports from the Passport Office. I think it is time government ministers came clean to parlt and gave true figures as to just how bad things are, particularly as we approach the key months of June, July and August. It is also important that the Govt make a statement addressing whether the three weeks turnaround time for applications that is currently on the website is still relevant'�
• On 9th June, Theresa May is questioned by Shadow Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper MP, on the growing crisis in the Passport Office. May shouts from the benches that there is no backlog of cases. That day it is widely reported that 25% of staff from the anti-fraud department within the Passport Office are being moved to deal with the crisis. A picture is leaked from an employee in the Passport office showing stacks of boxes of unprocessed passports.
• Also on 9th June, James Brokenshire responds to an Adjournment debate saying again there is no backlog
• On 10th June, Ed Miliband raises this issue with the Prime Minister, who admits there is a backlog, contradicting earlier claims from both Theresa May and James Brokenshire
• At 10pm, another leaked internal email is published in the press showing that staff had been told to relax security measures to help clear the backlog. At 11pm, the Home Office puts out a statement saying misters were unaware of the measures and have immediately reversed them
• On 11th June, Yvette Cooper asks Theresa May an urgent question about the action being taken to tackle the delays in passport applications. May admits there is a problem and sets out measures in response to the crisis but refuses to apologise and refuses to give detail.
• Later that day the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesperson says the PM is sorry if people have had to wait for delayed passports, and the details of emergency measures are released at 11pm.
Case studies:
Ria Runsewe, 32, almost missed a family reunion in Dubai after delays in processing a passport for her newborn.
The project manager from Bromley, south London, applied online on May 5 – but more than five weeks later, it still had not arrived.
Mrs Runsewe wanted to take her 10-week son Riley, to the gathering in the United Arab Emirates so that family members could meet him for the first time.
She said: ‘I started worrying couple of weeks after the application went in. I called the helpline to check its progress, but I couldn’t actually get hold of anyone who knew anything about it.
‘I was told someone would call me back within 48 hours, but I missed the call while I was changing my son’s nappy.
’Ten minutes later, I called back – only to be told that I had gone to the bottom of the queue and would have to wait another 48 hours. It was absolutely awful.’
On May 22, she managed to get through to someone to request the application be upgraded to the fast-track system, but it was another two weeks of chasing before she heard back.
‘They eventually called me on Friday morning [June 5] and said I would have it by the following day if I paid the higher levy of £55.50.
‘Of course I paid it, but I feel that I’ve been held to ransom.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2655619/What-passport-crisis-As-angry-families-face-ruined-summer-holidays-six-month-delays-extra-staff-drafted-Cameron-insists-situation-control.html#ixzz34XHjkp2L
Rory Pattinson looks set to miss out on a romantic break away thanks to the chaos. The 23-year-old applied to renew his passport via the Post Office check-and-send service on April 29 – seven weeks before he was due to set off.
Now, just days before he is to fly to Turkey on June 20, he still has no idea when it will come. He said: ‘They told me it would take three weeks, so I thought I had applied in plenty of time.’
Mr Pattinson, a security guard from Worcester, agreed to pay £55 to fast-track the process on Friday. He was told a courier would deliver the passport on Monday, but it did not appear. He said: ‘My girlfriend and I will lose £700 if we are forced to give up our holiday. It’s a complete nightmare.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2654195/May-accused-incredible-complacency-holiday-crisis-MPs-say-families-state-panic-passport-delays.html#ixzz34X23McBq
Audrey Strong, 67, from Timsbury, near Bath, said her 94-year-old mother paid the levy to be able to go on a cruise. She added: ‘They’re holding people to ransom. It’s disgusting – I don’t think she should have to pay all that money, but she did it because she would have lost her holiday otherwise.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2655033/Panicked-Home-Secretary-drafts-hundreds-emergency-staff-clear-passport-backlog-says-no-crisis.html#ixzz34X9pTegX
One woman said that she had been waiting five weeks to receive her passport, after originally being told she would only have three weeks to wait.
“It’s not right,” she said. “I’ve had to pay another £55 just to come and pick it up myself.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvideo/10895684/People-forced-to-pay-extra-to-fast-track-delayed-passports.html
Ms QW submitted passport renewal application on 4th April as she wanted to go on holiday to celebrate her one year wedding anniversary. She made the application over 8 weeks before she wanted to leave. She received a letter stating there were issues with her date of birth and middle name. She clarified this and sent through necessary information but then, after delays, her passport was printed with incorrect information and so is invalid. She has spent £161.50 trying to resolve situation and is now unable to book the holiday. She also accidently received an email from the Passport Office passing on another customer’s complaint and personal details.
A family originally from Afghanistan were travelling to UAE as their elderly and ill grandmother was visiting another relative there. They had believed the three weeks timescale on the Passport Office website and had booked to travel just three weeks after making the passport application for their two-year-old. It was successful after the Passport Office in Durham said that if they upgraded to premium service then & there, it could be issued & despatched to them the next day – they did & it was – on 30 April 2014.