UK Passport Delays Could Cost £1.1 Billion in Cancelled Holidays

People on the beach at Biarritz, France, on Aug. 13, 2020. Bob Edme/AP Photo

Delays in processing new British passports could cost £1.1 billion ($1.38 billion) in cancelled holiday bookings this summer, according to new research by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR).

It said there was a significant “pent-up” demand for travel after two summers which were virtually obliterated by the pandemic, but a backlog of new passport applications could have a devastating effect on the tourism industry.

CEBR said data from the VisitBritain COVID-19 Consumer Sentiment Tracker suggested more than two in five people are planning an overseas trip in the coming 12 months, and that leaves almost a million holiday makers at risk owing to the delays with new passports.

“Multiplying the resulting number of passports at risk with the average cost for a family holiday of around £2,400 [$3,015] suggests a cumulative loss of over £1.1 billion. If families aren’t able to get their money back, that is equivalent to a 5.4 percent loss of total yearly income for two adults working on the average UK yearly salary,” said CEBR.

A British passport in front of a screen displaying the UK Home Office's website, in an undated file photo. PA

Home Office minister Kevin Foster warned people on April 25 to renew their passports as soon as possible if they were hoping to go on holiday during the busiest months of July and August.

But Conservative MP Simon Hoare described the situation as an “absolute shambles” and Labour MP Stephanie Peacock said a woman in her Yorkshire constituency had still not received a new passport for her daughter, having applied in January.

The Passport Office has admitted there is unprecedented demand but it has processed a million passports in the last month, compared to the pre-pandemic level of 7 million a year.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper told the House of Commons on April 27: “We’ve had cases of people cancelling jobs, parents trying to get holiday for a sick child waiting since January, huge long delays by the Passport Office and by the contractor TNT.”

TNT UK, which is owned by FedEx, has a £77 million ($97 million) contract with the Passport Office but CEBR said it had “struggled to keep up with the demand for its delivery services” and the government had recently brought in Royal Mail and DHL to help tackle the backlog.

Following Brexit, those applying for new passports will receive documents in the distinctive dark blue colour which Britain used prior to switching to the European Union’s burgundy covers in 1988.

PA Media contributed to this report.