Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 2
2
Rejected
The Department has demonstrated a worrying lack of curiosity about the human impact of HMPO’s...
Recommendation
The Department has demonstrated a worrying lack of curiosity about the human impact of HMPO’s poor service or who its customers were. HMPO is unable to say how many people were forced to cancel their travel plans because of their passports being delayed, and has not done any work to find out what this number is. It similarly cannot know the number of people who were unable to attend family emergencies or take up employment and does not link passport applications from, for example, a family group. The handling of communication with customers who had applications in progress was also poor. In some cases customers had to call repeatedly and were hung up on when they did get through. The Department received 11,400 letters from MPs regarding constituents’ passport applications as many customers gave up trying to contact HMPO directly. HMPO does not routinely pay compensation for delays because it instructs customers not to book travel without a valid passport. While it did offer refunds for customers whose applications were delayed despite paying for HMPO’s express service, it was unable to say how much it had paid out in total. HMPO recognised that customers who complained were passed between too many staff in different parts of HMPO, and is establishing a new ‘resolution hub’ to improve this and resolve cases first-time. However, it does not expect this to be ready in time for the anticipated 2023 surge in demand. Recommendation 2: The Department should, as part of its Treasury Minute response, set out how it will place a greater emphasis on the experience of HMPO’s customers in the future. HMPO should also collect better data on who is applying for a passport, to provide information to improve its overall service. 6 Investigation into the UK Passport Office
Government Response Summary
The government disagrees with the recommendation, asserting that excellent customer service has always been at the forefront of HM Passport Office’s policy-making and processes, and that they regularly gather feedback and monitor complaints.
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government
Rejected
The government disagrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Excellent customer service has always been at the forefront of HM Passport Office’s policy-making, and the implementation of its processes. During the summer of 2022, HM Passport Office prioritised cases entirely based upon customer need. While the standard UK passport service does not have a guaranteed processing timeframe, and customers are advised not to book travel without a valid passport, the provision of the expedited service is a clear example of its approach to helping ensure that people received their passport in good time. HM Passport Office will always endeavour to improve the service offered, and regularly gathers both qualitative and quantitative feedback about its service to inform future changes. This is done through a variety of ways, including the monitoring of complaints, as well as regular detailed surveying of its customers. In the autumn of 2022, HM Passport Office was reaccredited as having achieved the Customer Service Excellence standard. It exceeded each of the 57 assessment elements across the five criteria, which includes the approach to Customer Insight and Customer Satisfaction. In its latest customer experience survey (April 2023), 85% scored their experience of HM Passport Office as 9 or 10 out of 10 (where 10 is excellent). However, in line with data protection principles, HM Passport Office will only gather and hold customer data that enables the purpose of processing this data to be fulfilled. In effect, it will only collect information that has a bearing on the processing of a passport application. It is for this reason that customer research and feedback is used to inform the operation.