Demand rises for passports as workers begin strike

There has been a "temporary increase" in demand for new passports ahead of more than 1,000 Passport Office workers starting five weeks of strike action.

The Home Office confirmed a rise in applications but said the amount was "close" to levels estimated.

It said there were currently no plans to change its 10-week guidance for passports to be processed and sent out.

Members of the Public and Commercial Services union are striking until 5 May in a row over jobs, pay and conditions.

Workers will walk out across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland from Monday.

The PCS union has warned of delays to applications and the delivery of passports in the run-up to summer.

But the Home Office told the BBC while there had been an increase in demand, "the number of passport applications remains close to forecasted volumes".

"There are currently no plans to change our guidance which states that it takes up to 10 weeks to get a passport," it said.

To mitigate the impact on services, the Home Office is deploying staff who have previously worked in Passport Offices during busy times of year.

It is understood people who require a passport on compassionate grounds for urgent travel will still be able to get one. However, there will be a reduction in the amount of appointments available for other urgent services.

Fay Margo from East Sussex is waiting for her new passport to arrive ahead of a holiday in two weeks' time to visit her husband's family and friends in Spain with their two children.

She told the BBC she was advised to apply for her new passport through the post rather than trying to get an emergency appointment, due to people "panicking" and trying to book them amid the strikes.

She said she'd been notified on Friday that her application had been approved. "I am just crossing my fingers that my passport is going to be back in time."

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The Home Office said it was disappointed by the strike action, and was working to manage the disruption and continue the service through "comprehensive contingency plans".

More than 4,000 people are employed by the Passport Office across the UK, which means that according to union figures around one in four workers will take action.

The union has said the walkouts are being targeted to cause mass disruption and involve members working in departments which examine passports - more than 1,300 people.

The offices affected are Durham, Glasgow, Liverpool, London, Newport, Peterborough, Southport and Belfast.

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At peak times - including the month of April when the strike will take place - the Passport Office can receive 250,000 applications per week, travel expert Simon Calder has previously said.

He added that means more than one million applications could be sent during the strike period.

Current waiting times for first adult passports are just over 18 days while renewals are just over 14 days, according to Passportwaitingtime.co.uk, an independent crowd sourcing website which relies on people inputting their own application wait times.

But there are fears the strikes could lead to passports not being processed in time for some people's holidays.

In December last year, the National Audit Office (NAO) watchdog found hundreds of thousands of people were affected by passport processing delays.

It said some 360,000 customers waited more than 10 weeks to receive their passports in the first nine months of 2022 and warned that up to 10 million applications could potentially be submitted this year.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka has previously said the strike action was over the government refusing to increase a proposed 2% pay rise and added ministers had "failed to hold any meaningful talks".

Inflation, which is the rate at which consumer prices rise, was 10.4% in the year to February.A strike fund worth millions, funded by a levy from PCS members, has been built up to pay staff in full during the course of the five-week walkout, the union has said.

The government has urged the union to "recognise what is reasonable and affordable, as the whole country faces these cost of living challenges".