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Passport Office must be ‘better prepared’ for 2023 rush

Government
Rob Gill
9 December 2022

The UK’s Passport Office has been urged to be better prepared for continued high demand for new passports in 2023 after 360,000 travellers had to wait more than the target 10 weeks for their travel document to arrive.

360,000 travellers had to wait more than 10 weeks for their new passports

A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) found that an estimated five million people delayed renewing their passports in 2020 and 2021 during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, which caused a rush of applications as international travel opened up earlier this year. 

Forecasts suggest that at least three million of these people have still not renewed their passports, which will create another year of high demand in 2023.