Passport office in 'crisis' as backlog of applications surges over 500,000

Following Passport Office’s denial that there is no backlog, pictures of documents piled up in one of their rooms used for meeting were leaked

12:07 11 June 2014

On Tuesday night, pictures of hundreds of files full of applications sitting in a passport office room that is typically used for meetings were leaked to The Guardian– this challenges Passport Office claim that there is no backlog of travel documents. 

 

A source confirmed that the pictures were taken in the second floor conference room at the office’s Liverpool branch. The source added that this is the first time that the room was used to store files of applications. 

 

However, Paul Pugh, the interim chief executive of the Passport Office insists that there is no backlog. 

 

He said: "We have been experiencing exceptional early-summer demand for passports, in part due to the improving economy and a rise in holiday bookings.

 

"During this busy period we have processed more than 97% of straightforward passport renewal and child applications within the three-week target turnaround time.

 

"There is no backlog — over 99% of straightforward applications have been processed within four weeks."

 

On the other hand, Union officials do not agree with him saying that there are about 500,000 cases that are waiting to be processed. They said that the backlog was due to office closures and job cuts. Labour and Tory MPs added that they’ve received numerous complaints from constituents saying that their passports were delayed.