Passport delays being warned as five-week strike called

• The Passport Office employees  will strike for five weeks.
• Over a disagreement on their duties, wages, and working conditions.
• Leading to delays in passport delivery and application processing.

More than 1,000 Passport Office employees will walk out for five weeks over a disagreement on their duties, wages, and working conditions, according to unions.

From 3 April to 5 May, employees of the Public and Commercial Services union in England, Scotland, and Wales will participate in the action.

In the run-up to summer, the union issued a warning about delays in passport delivery and application processing.

The Home Office expressed “disappointment” in the PCS’s choice.

A spokesperson said it had been engaged in “constructive talks” to end the dispute, adding: “We are working to manage the impact of strike action whilst ensuring we can continue to deliver vital services to the public, with comprehensive contingency plans in place.”

The Passport Office employs more than 4,000 individuals in the UK, therefore based on union estimates, about one in four employees may walk out.

More than 1,300 members of the union who work in departments that evaluate passports are taking part in the walkout, according to the union, which is intended to cause widespread inconvenience.

The affected offices are located in Durham, Glasgow, Liverpool, London, Newport, Peterborough, and Southport in England, Scotland, and Wales.

Belfast employees are being polled about joining the strike.

According to travel expert Simon Calder, the Passport Office can receive as many as 250,000 applications per week during busy periods, which includes the month of April when the strike will occur.

According to him, this might result in the submission of more than a million applications during the strike.

The Home Office claims that the strike has no bearing on its advice, which continues to recommend giving yourself up to ten weeks to obtain a passport while making plans to fulfil demand.

Yet, reports of the strike have led to worries that some people’s summer vacations may be ruined since their passports won’t be completed in time.

Prior to a family vacation to Croatia in June, Newcastle resident Simon Fulton renewed four passports on Thursday.

That could be the last major family vacation they take together, he says, and he fears the new passports won’t arrive in time, costing him £5,000 in lost revenue.

“If they’re on strike for a month there’s likely to be a massive backlog to get through.

“I don’t want to be waiting until the last week to find out if we can go, it’s a £5,000 holiday.

“I sympathies with them [the workers] in the cost of living crisis [and] I know it’s designed to make the government sit up and do something, but it feels like it’s been constructed to cause a big delay which doesn’t help a lot of people.”

A UK adult passport is good for ten years, however certain nations may deny entry if it is about to expire.

The majority of nations require your passport to be valid for the entire length of your intended stay, but some – typically those where you need a visa to enter – only accept passports that have a specified amount of time left on their expiration dates.

On the government’s webpage for international travel advice, you can get instructions for each nation.

The argument, according to PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka, is over a promised 2% wage raise that the government, he claimed, was not going to boost any higher.

He added the strike action had come about because “ministers have failed to hold any meaningful talks”.

He added: “They’ve had six months to resolve this dispute but for six months have refused to improve their 2% imposed pay rise, and failed to address our members’ other issues of concern.”

The union claims that a multimillion dollar strike fund, financed by a charge from PCS members, has been amassed to pay staff in full throughout the five-week walkout.

Once travel restrictions related to the coronavirus were eased last year, hundreds of thousands of travelers experienced delays in getting their passports processed.

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