Investigation into the UK Passport Office

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry
Opened: 8 Nov 2022 Closed: 27 Jun 2023 Parliament page
The number of passport applications increased significantly in 2022 after the lifting of COVID-19 international travel restrictions and a lengthy backlog of passport applications has developed, causing delays. The Committee will question senior officials at the Home Office on trends in passport applications in the past and since the COVID-19 … Read more
9 Recommendations
20 Conclusions
1 Report
1 Oral session
1 Letter
1 Event
Activity timeline 5 events
27 Jun
2023
Report published
6 Apr
2023
Report published
23 Jan
2023
Correspondence
19 Dec
2022
Oral evidence
19 Dec
2022
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Grimond Room, Portcullis House
Oral evidence sessions 1 session
19 Dec 2022
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Investigation into the UK Passport Office
Matthew Rycroft CBE · Home Office Thomas Greig · HM Passport Office Tricia Hayes CB · Home Office
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigation into the UK Passport Office HC 738 6 Apr 2023 29 Responded
Recommendations & Conclusions
29 results
2 Recommendation Rejected
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigati…
The Department has demonstrated a worrying lack of curiosity about the human impact of HMPO’s...
The Department has demonstrated a worrying lack of curiosity about the human impact of HMPO’s poor service or who its customers were. HMPO is unable to say how many people were forced to cancel their travel plans because of their … Read more
Government Response
The government disagrees with the recommendation, asserting that excellent customer service has always been at the forefront of HM Passport Office’s policy-making and processes, and that they regularly gather feedback and monitor complaints.
HM Treasury
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3 Recommendation Accepted
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigati…
Weaknesses in HMPO’s understanding of how applications moved through its systems caused frustration and confusion...
Weaknesses in HMPO’s understanding of how applications moved through its systems caused frustration and confusion for customers. HMPO experienced problems with its management information. For example, HMPO has moved 134,000 applications from its digital system to its legacy paper-based system … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the recommendation and states that HM Passport Office has undertaken a thorough assessment of its management information and delivered a number of improvements to its reporting mechanisms, including improvements in the reporting of work across its application systems.
HM Treasury
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4 Recommendation Accepted
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigati…
Despite HMPO’s work to prepare for increased demand for passports, poor performance by contractors exacerbated...
Despite HMPO’s work to prepare for increased demand for passports, poor performance by contractors exacerbated issues for customers. We are concerned that in some cases it was clear that the performance of external contractors was deteriorating as early as March … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the recommendation and states that The Home Office works to continually improve its ability to procure and manage third party suppliers, using lessons learned to further support the robust monitoring of compliance against contract requirements.
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5 Recommendation Accepted
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigati…
We remain to be convinced that HMPO’s digital transformation programme will be completed by 2025.
We remain to be convinced that HMPO’s digital transformation programme will be completed by 2025. Many of HMPO’s difficulties meeting the demand in 2022 stemmed from, or were exacerbated by, issues with its transformation programme. The future of HMPO’s operations … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the recommendation and provides an update on actions taken to address each of the recommendations from the Infrastructure and Projects Authority’s August 2022 review, including commissioning an independent review of the DAP Programme, separating responsibilities of the DAP live service team and the DAP development team, and holding an ‘all attend’ in-person Programme Away Day.
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6 Recommendation Accepted
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigati…
We are disappointed by the Department and HMPO’s lack of ambition in their plans to...
We are disappointed by the Department and HMPO’s lack of ambition in their plans to meet demand for passports in 2023 and beyond. HMPO estimates that there are still three million customers who did not renew or apply for passports … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees with the recommendation and states that HM Passport Office has worked to deliver a number of improvements, including improved workflow management information and analytics, appointing an additional supplier to handle calls, and continuing to develop its digital solutions to manage demand for passports in the future.
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1 Conclusion Acknowledged
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigati…
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence...
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Home Office (the Department) and His Majesty’s Passport Office (HMPO) on HMPO’s performance processing passport applications in 2022.1
Government Response
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation.
HM Treasury
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7 Conclusion Acknowledged
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigati…
We asked the Department how satisfied it was with HMPO’s performance in meeting customer expectations...
We asked the Department how satisfied it was with HMPO’s performance in meeting customer expectations in the spring and summer of 2022. The Department asserted that, given the number of applications that had been processed, there were some things to … Read more
Government Response
The government acknowledged the challenges experienced in early-2022 and described improvements made to deliver consistent high standards of service, including workflow management, customer contact services, digital solutions, and staffing model.
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8 Conclusion Acknowledged
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigati…
Given that the total demand in 2022 was lower than predicted, we asked the Department...
Given that the total demand in 2022 was lower than predicted, we asked the Department how it would have managed had the total number of applications been 9.5 million as it predicted. The Department told us that its performance would … Read more
Government Response
The government acknowledged the challenges experienced in early-2022 and described improvements made to deliver consistent high standards of service, including workflow management, customer contact services, digital solutions, and staffing model.
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9 Conclusion Acknowledged
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigati…
Between January and September 2022, around 360,000 people did not receive their passports within 10...
Between January and September 2022, around 360,000 people did not receive their passports within 10 weeks. The Department asserted that when it became aware that a customer needed to travel, it would escalate that individual’s case, at no further cost.11 … Read more
Government Response
The government acknowledged the challenges experienced in early-2022 and described improvements made to deliver consistent high standards of service, including workflow management, customer contact services, digital solutions, and staffing model.
HM Treasury
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10 Conclusion
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigati…
We asked HMPO how much compensation it had paid out as a result of delays...
We asked HMPO how much compensation it had paid out as a result of delays in
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11 Conclusion Accepted
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigati…
Teleperformance, the contractor responsible for HMPO’s customer support telephone line, failed to meet its service...
Teleperformance, the contractor responsible for HMPO’s customer support telephone line, failed to meet its service level agreement of answering 80% of calls within 30 seconds from March 2022 to July 2022. In May, it only managed to answer 14% of … Read more
Government Response
The government describes actions already taken, stating that HM Passport Office has worked closely with Teleperformance and Sopra Steria to help ensure that they meet the required service level throughout 2023, and has appointed an additional supplier to provide greater resilience, estimating around £2 million savings over two years.
HM Treasury
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12 Conclusion Accepted
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigati…
Difficulties with the customer helpline meant that many customers contacted their MP to try and...
Difficulties with the customer helpline meant that many customers contacted their MP to try and resolve issues with their passport applications. The NAO reported that the Department received 11,400 letters from MPs regarding HMPO business between January and July 2022.19 … Read more
Government Response
The Home Office states that HM Passport Office has worked closely with Teleperformance and Sopra Steria to ensure they meet the required service level throughout 2023 and that Sopra Steria has consistently met its key performance measures since June 2022, while Teleperformance has met the required service levels since August 2022. They also appointed Serco to handle approximately 25% of calls to the Passport Adviceline.
HM Treasury
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13 Conclusion Accepted
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigati…
HMPO acknowledged that customer queries were being sent from one office to another to be...
HMPO acknowledged that customer queries were being sent from one office to another to be resolved. HMPO told us that it was establishing a ‘Resolution Hub’ to try and reduce the number of contacts a customer query passes through, and … Read more
Government Response
HM Passport Office has delivered a number of improvements to its reporting mechanisms to address weaknesses, including improvements in the reporting of work across its application systems and workflow management information and analytics.
HM Treasury
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14 Conclusion Acknowledged
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigati…
HMPO issues guidance to let customers know how long it takes to process a standard...
HMPO issues guidance to let customers know how long it takes to process a standard passport application; this is currently set at 10 weeks.23 We asked HMPO to clarify whether this included the time it took for an application to … Read more
Government Response
The government acknowledges that approximately 5 million people delayed their passport application due to the COVID-19 pandemic and will continue to advise people to allow up to ten weeks to get their passport, however the processing time guidance will be returned to pre- pandemic timeframes in due course.
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15 Conclusion Accepted
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigati…
HMPO experienced difficulties understanding how applications were moving through its systems due to weaknesses in...
HMPO experienced difficulties understanding how applications were moving through its systems due to weaknesses in its management information. Because HMPO’s digital system was not fully developed, it did not have the capability to process all types of applications, and could … Read more
Government Response
HM Passport Office has delivered a number of improvements to its reporting mechanisms to address weaknesses, including improvements in the reporting of work across its application systems and workflow management information and analytics.
HM Treasury
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16 Conclusion Accepted
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigati…
While HMPO was confident it had now resolved this issue, it took two to three...
While HMPO was confident it had now resolved this issue, it took two to three months for HMPO to discover the problem, and only after it was raised with them by customers. We asked HMPO why it had taken it … Read more
Government Response
The Home Office states that HM Passport Office has worked closely with Teleperformance and Sopra Steria to ensure they meet the required service level throughout 2023 and that Sopra Steria has consistently met its key performance measures since June 2022, while Teleperformance has met the required service levels since August 2022. They also appointed Serco to handle approximately 25% of calls to the Passport Adviceline.
HM Treasury
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17 Conclusion Acknowledged
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigati…
HMPO had not planned for the large number of applications that needed to be transferred,...
HMPO had not planned for the large number of applications that needed to be transferred, and the process is labour-intensive for Sopra Steria Ltd., which has to move the applications from one system to the other. HMPO told us that … Read more
Government Response
The government states that they agree with the Committee’s recommendation, but proceeds to describe actions already taken to improve the procurement and management of third-party suppliers and improve the work of Teleperformance and Sopra Steria, rather than committing to new action.
HM Treasury
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18 Conclusion Accepted
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigati…
As part of its planning for the anticipated increase in demand, HMPO engaged with suppliers...
As part of its planning for the anticipated increase in demand, HMPO engaged with suppliers to bolster its stock of passport books as well as its ability to deliver completed passports to customers. It also shared information and demand forecasts … Read more
Government Response
The Home Office states that HM Passport Office has worked closely with Teleperformance and Sopra Steria to ensure they meet the required service level throughout 2023 and that Sopra Steria has consistently met its key performance measures since June 2022, while Teleperformance has met the required service levels since August 2022. They also appointed Serco to handle approximately 25% of calls to the Passport Adviceline.
HM Treasury
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19 Conclusion Accepted
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigati…
HMPO stockpiled passport books and worked with Thales to procure additional storage for these.
HMPO stockpiled passport books and worked with Thales to procure additional storage for these. Thales’s performance decreased in March and April 2022, with the percentage of items printed within 48 hours dropping from 100% in January and February 2022, to … Read more
Government Response
The Home Office states that HM Passport Office has worked closely with Teleperformance and Sopra Steria to ensure they meet the required service level throughout 2023 and that Sopra Steria has consistently met its key performance measures since June 2022, while Teleperformance has met the required service levels since August 2022. They also appointed Serco to handle approximately 25% of calls to the Passport Adviceline.
HM Treasury
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20 Conclusion Accepted
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigati…
Sopra Steria Ltd.
Sopra Steria Ltd. failed to meet its service level targets for five months from March to July 2022. Its worst performance was in April, when an average of just 42% of applications were processed within the target timescale, and it … Read more
Government Response
The Home Office states that HM Passport Office has worked closely with Teleperformance and Sopra Steria to ensure they meet the required service level throughout 2023 and that Sopra Steria has consistently met its key performance measures since June 2022, while Teleperformance has met the required service levels since August 2022. They also appointed Serco to handle approximately 25% of calls to the Passport Adviceline.
HM Treasury
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21 Conclusion Accepted
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigati…
Teleperformance has a service level target of 80% of calls being answered by a person...
Teleperformance has a service level target of 80% of calls being answered by a person within 30 seconds. It failed to meet this target from April to July 2022. In April, it received 625,000 calls in one week, nearly 350% … Read more
Government Response
The Home Office states that HM Passport Office has worked closely with Teleperformance and Sopra Steria to ensure they meet the required service level throughout 2023 and that Sopra Steria has consistently met its key performance measures since June 2022, while Teleperformance has met the required service levels since August 2022. They also appointed Serco to handle approximately 25% of calls to the Passport Adviceline.
HM Treasury
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22 Recommendation Accepted
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigati…
We asked HMPO how it was ensuring that suppliers had sufficient capacity to meet the...
We asked HMPO how it was ensuring that suppliers had sufficient capacity to meet the expected demand for passports in future. HMPO told us that it was taking actions to reduce supplier issues in 2023, which was different for different … Read more
Government Response
The government agreed with the recommendation and states HM Passport Office has worked closely with Teleperformance and Sopra Steria and has appointed Serco to handle approximately 25% of calls and provide extra resilience, estimated to deliver around £2 million savings over two years.
HM Treasury
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23 Recommendation Accepted
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigati…
HMPO’s ability to process applications efficiently hinges on the successful delivery of its digital transformation...
HMPO’s ability to process applications efficiently hinges on the successful delivery of its digital transformation programme, which began in 2016 and was originally expected to be completed by March 2022. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the programme’s scope had to be … Read more
Government Response
The government agreed to set out the actions taken to address each of the recommendations from the Infrastructure and Projects Authority’s August 2022 review, and explain what contingencies they are putting in place should there be further delays to the digital transformation programme; these actions are listed in the response.
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24 Recommendation Accepted
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigati…
The scope of the programme has increased significantly since it began and in 2021 it...
The scope of the programme has increased significantly since it began and in 2021 it was added to the Government Major Projects Portfolio. In August 2022, the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) rated the programme Red, and recommended that the … Read more
Government Response
The government agreed to set out how it will better manage demand for passports in the future and what outcomes it will use to measure its performance; it describes workflow improvements, more robust customer service, further development to digital solutions, a staffing model to meet passport demand, and continued exploration of options to smooth demand across the full year.
HM Treasury
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25 Conclusion
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigati…
HMPO’s ultimate plan is for its digital system to be able to process paper applications,...
HMPO’s ultimate plan is for its digital system to be able to process paper applications, by scanning these onto the system. While it wants to reduce the amount of paper-based applications, it told us that it did not plan to … Read more
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26 Conclusion Acknowledged
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigati…
HMPO estimated that at least three million customers who delayed renewing or applying for their...
HMPO estimated that at least three million customers who delayed renewing or applying for their passports due to the COVID-19 pandemic and have not yet done so. At the time of the NAO report, it expected to receive approximately 9.8 … Read more
Government Response
The government acknowledges that approximately 5 million people delayed their passport application due to the COVID-19 pandemic and will continue to advise people to allow up to ten weeks to get their passport, however the processing time guidance will be returned to pre- pandemic timeframes in due course.
HM Treasury
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27 Conclusion
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigati…
We asked HMPO what it had done in 2022 to attempt to persuade people to...
We asked HMPO what it had done in 2022 to attempt to persuade people to apply for their passports earlier to help manage the surge in demand. HMPO attempted to directly influence customers to apply for their passports earlier and … Read more
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28 Recommendation Accepted
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigati…
The Department and HMPO asserted multiple times that they were learning lessons from their experience...
The Department and HMPO asserted multiple times that they were learning lessons from their experience in 2022 to avoid similar problems in 2023 and beyond, including conducting internal reviews.51 However, HMPO has experienced similar issues in the 42 Qq 99–100 … Read more
Government Response
The government agreed with the Committee’s recommendation. It said that it is fully resourced, and that following workflow improvements, any application transferred to AMS is now brought to the correct place in the queue to begin processing. It also said that these issues experienced in the early part of last year are fully resolved.
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29 Conclusion
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigati…
The Home Affairs Committee examined delays to processing applications in 2014 and similarly concluded that...
The Home Affairs Committee examined delays to processing applications in 2014 and similarly concluded that the issue of service standards had been a persistent theme in the way the Department defended the delay in dealing with cases over several governments. … Read more
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Government Response AI assessment · 25 of 9 classified
Accepted 17
Acknowledged 7
Rejected 1
Total 9 recs + 20 conclusions
Correspondence 1 letter
23 Jan 2023 Correspondence from Sir Matthew Rycroft, Permanent Secretary, Home Office, re update on Investigation into the Passport Office, dated 18 January 2023
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