27
Accepted
We asked HMPO what it had done in 2022 to attempt to persuade people to...
Conclusion
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 told us that it sent more than 5 million text messages to people whose passports were due to expire. HMPO’s customer research, however, showed the impact of this was negligible, with just 3.4% of texts resulting in people taking any action.47 HMPO was unable to tell us how much it cost to send the texts, but the Department wrote to us after our evidence session to confirm that the cost per message was 1.72p plus VAT. We calculate that this equates to some £86,000 plus VAT.48 HMPO accepted that while it did run some advertising campaigns, it should have been more proactive in using social media, as that is where many of its customers receive their information. HMPO stated that it planned to focus its communication with customers on social media in the future.49 We also heard that HMPO wants to use surge teams across the Department to flexibly cope with spikes in demand, rather than relying on recruiting additional staff.50
Government Response Summary
The government states the recommendation is implemented, citing completed improvements in workflow management, customer contact services, digital solutions, and a flexible staffing model. HMPO will continue to explore viable incentives to smooth demand across the year.
Government Response
Accepted
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 6.2 In response to the challenges experienced in early-2022, HM Passport Office has worked to deliver a number of improvements to that has delivered consistent high standards of service that its customers rightfully expect. 6.3 This includes improved workflow management information and analytics, which has delivered significantly improved oversight of work in progress, and better enabling the proactive management of its queues. Alongside this, HM Passport Office has acted to add greater resilience to its provision of customer contact services by appointing an additional supplier to handle approximately 25% of calls to the Passport Adviceline. 6.4 It has also continued to develop its digital solutions, approximately 89% of applications begin their processing through DAP, with 81% completed end-to-end. 6.5 In addition, HM Passport Office has developed an ambitious, flexible and responsive staffing model to meet passport demand, and to provide the best service possible to its customers. 6.6 As a result of these efforts, it has processed almost 4 million applications in 2023, with 99.5% within ten weeks and 93.5% within three weeks. 6.7 Approximately 5 million people delayed their passport application due to the restrictions upon international travel caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the exceptional cause of this latent demand, the profile of when this will arrive is less predictable than in a normal year. It is therefore appropriate to 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. 6.8 The seasonality of passport demand does put greater pressure on passport services, and there remains significant value in exploring options to smooth this demand across the full year. 6.9 While HM Passport Office has not yet identified a viable incentive to bring forward demand into the autumn/winter that is both fair and in line with international standards, it will continue to explore ways to attempt to achieve this.
Source
Committee
Public Accounts Committee
Report
Forty-Seventh Report - Investigation into the UK Passport Office
06 Apr 2023
HC 738
Addressee Bodies
HM Treasury
Timeline
Recommendation age
3.3 yrs
Report published
06 Apr 2023