Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an estimate of the number of people unable to travel abroad in summer 2022 due to passport application delays.

Since April 2021, people applying from the UK have been advised to allow up to ten weeks when applying for their British passport under the standard service. Between January and July 2022, 96.4% of applications were processed within 10 weeks.

For the small percentage of customers who have not received their passport within 10 weeks, where they have evidenced that they require a passport within the next fortnight, His Majesty’s Passport Office has prioritised their application at no additional cost to help ensure that a passport is issued in time for travel.