Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 12
12
Accepted
Difficulties with the customer helpline meant that many customers contacted their MP to try and...
Conclusion
Difficulties with the customer helpline meant that many customers contacted their MP to try and resolve issues with their passport applications. The NAO reported that the Department received 11,400 letters from MPs regarding HMPO business between January and July 2022.19 Following our evidence session, the Department wrote to us confirming it had received 53,305 passport related queries from MPs between January and December 2022 across all forms of communication, including 23,431 queries by phone and 13,333 by email or letter.20 HMPO told us that in July 2022, it received an average of 237 calls from MPs each day. HMPO accepted that the shortcomings in its customer service had undermined customers’ confidence more widely, which further increased levels of customer contact and placed more pressure on Teleperformance and HMPO. More customers also filed complaints through this period, from fewer than 1,000 in April 2021 to 1,741 in June 2022.21 14 Q 59 15 Q 62 16 Letter from Sir Matthew Rycroft, Permanent Secretary, Home Office, to Dame Meg Hillier, Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts, 18 January 2023 17 Qq 75, 102; C&AG’s Report, para 3.13, Figure 9 18 Q 33 19 C&AG’s Report para 3.18 20 Letter from Sir Matthew Rycroft, Permanent Secretary, Home Office, to Dame Meg Hillier, Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts, 18 January 2023 21 Qq 30–33; C&AG’s Report para 3.18 Investigation into the UK Passport Office 11
Government Response Summary
The Home Office states that HM Passport Office has worked closely with Teleperformance and Sopra Steria to ensure they meet the required service level throughout 2023 and that Sopra Steria has consistently met its key performance measures since June 2022, while Teleperformance has met the required service levels since August 2022. They also appointed Serco to handle approximately 25% of calls to the Passport Adviceline.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
4.3 For the work of Teleperformance and Sopra Steria, HM Passport Office has worked closely with them to help ensure that they meet the required service level throughout 2023. 4.6 While Teleperformance did not meet the required standard until August 2022, HM Passport Office worked with them constructively to resolve this as quickly as possible. Following the introduction of a number of improvements, Teleperformance have met the required service levels for call answering since August 2022. 4.7 However, as part of lessons learned from last year, HM Passport Office has added greater resilience to its provision of customer contact services by appointing an additional supplier. Serco, who commenced this work on 22 March 2023, will handle approximately 25% of calls to the Passport Adviceline and provide extra resilience to Teleperformance, with the overall contact centre spend estimated to deliver around £2 million savings over a two-year period.