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11/06/2014
Passport Office Calls In Extra Staff
Around 250 additional staff have been called into the Passport Office to try and alleviate a large backlog of passport allocations, it has been revealed.
The announcement comes shortly after the UK Government denied there were problems with a backlog.
The Home Office has said it is currently dealing with around 465,000 applications, which include renewals and first-time passports, but denied union claims that the "massive backlog" is due to job cuts that have happened over the last five years.
Paul Pugh, Chief Executive of the Passport Office, added that more than 99% of "straightforward applications" were being processed within four weeks.
Passport applications are now said to be at a 12-year high and staff have been redeployed to deal with the large number; however, some have said that this still is not good enough.
Speaking to the BBC, Keith Vaz, Chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, said: "The Passport Office has known about this since March this year - it's now June. If you know there's a surge on the way, you make contingency plans."
(CVS/JP)
The announcement comes shortly after the UK Government denied there were problems with a backlog.
The Home Office has said it is currently dealing with around 465,000 applications, which include renewals and first-time passports, but denied union claims that the "massive backlog" is due to job cuts that have happened over the last five years.
Paul Pugh, Chief Executive of the Passport Office, added that more than 99% of "straightforward applications" were being processed within four weeks.
Passport applications are now said to be at a 12-year high and staff have been redeployed to deal with the large number; however, some have said that this still is not good enough.
Speaking to the BBC, Keith Vaz, Chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, said: "The Passport Office has known about this since March this year - it's now June. If you know there's a surge on the way, you make contingency plans."
(CVS/JP)
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