HM Passport Office

3. Ms G complains about the service she received from HM passport Office (HMPO) in 2020. In particular, she says it took HMPO 11 weeks to issue an emergency passport and says it acted with no urgency.

4. As a result, she says she has been caused a great deal of distress and suffered financially. She says the actions of HMPO meant her son was unable to access medical treatment.

5. As an outcome she would like an acknowledgement of failings and an apology. She would also like service improvements and financial remedy.

6. Ms G contacted HMPO on 27 July 2020 to request a passport application be considered under urgent and compassionate criteria.

7. Ms G initially made the application while she was in London (rented out a property there) but lived in France. Her four-year-old son was with his grandmother who lives in Ireland.

8. Ms G has said she moved to Ireland following confirmation from HMPO that it was fine to do so.

9. On 21 August 2020, HMPO establish that Ms G and her son were residing in the Republic of Ireland. Therefore, the application needed to be transferred to the international team in Belfast to process as an overseas case.

10. The passport was printed and dispatched on 27 August 2020. However, the passport was held due to errors in the process of transferring the passport to its overseas delivery partner. Then it was returned to the UK due to secure storage issues

11. HMPO had advised Ms G to submit a new application to avoid further delays. This was done on 2 October and issued on the same day.

14. There is no doubt that there were delays in Ms G receiving her son’s passport, however, given the nature of the situation surrounding the case, we have decided to take no further action.

15. It is important to note, the events surrounding the complaint were at a time where the UK and the world were going through an unprecedented time with the Covid-19 pandemic.

16. There is no doubt that when Ms G made the initial application this was made in the UK (London) but later moved to the republic of Ireland (non-UK), meaning the application needed to change.

17. Although, we appreciate Ms G has said HMPO confirmed she could travel to Republic of Ireland, we have seen no impartial evidence to support this, and this does not change the fact that the application would need to change to an overseas application which would clearly delay matters. Furthermore, it is also important to note that if Ms G did need to urgently travel back to France for specific appointments she should and could have contacted the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).

18. We also have no doubt that the circumstances were deeply distressing for Ms G and her family, and we appreciate the frustration she experienced. However, during the application process circumstances changed meaning new information was required, resulting in delays. This is a unique situation, and we found it difficult to criticise HMPO for this, given it is not something they would have experienced very often, given it happened at the time of a global pandemic.

19. Our principles of good administration state organisations need to:

‘Respond flexibly to the circumstances of the case. This means considering how the public body may need to adjust its normal approach to handling a complaint in the circumstances’.

20. Whilst, in most cases, this is intended to mean that the organisation acts more quickly, the flexibility needs to work both ways. That means there may be times when a novel approach is appropriate, particularly when faced with unique situations.

21. Again, we do not wish to take anything away from Ms G’s experience and appreciate the situation was extremely frustrating for both her and her family.

1. We have carefully considered Ms G’s complaint about HM Passport Office (HMPO).

• We have decided not to take the complaint forward.

2. We fully appreciate and understand the level of frustration and distress, Ms G experienced during the period in question, and we have no doubt a difficult situation was made worse by the actions of HMPO. However, we are not convinced these actions constitute maladminstration, given the unique nature of the situation.