London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 28, 2025

Ministers knew about UK passport helpline firm’s poor performance a year ago

Ministers knew about UK passport helpline firm’s poor performance a year ago

French multinational was missing targets for calls and emails as far back as May 2021, documents show
Warnings about the “unsatisfactory” performance of the private firm running the beleaguered Passport Office advice line were made to government ministers more than a year ago, it can be revealed.

Teleperformance, a French-owned multinational, failed to meet targets for responding to calls and emails as early as May 2021, according to official documents seen by the Observer.

They show that a review of its performance last summer concluded that it needed improvement. But instead it worsened over the following months, prompting officials to pledge that they would work with the firm to improve standards.

The revelation comes amid a mounting crisis at the Passport Office, with thousands of people unable to travel for holidays, weddings, funerals and family emergencies due to application delays.

MPs were told last Wednesday that around 50,000 Britons had been waiting more than 10 weeks for their passports, with 550,000 applications in the system in June.

The department is said to have too few staff to deal with post-pandemic demand and has failed to attract new recruits quickly enough.

Teleperformance, which does not process passports but is the first point of contact for people seeking advice on their applications, is accused of worsening the backlog by providing unhelpful and sometimes even inaccurate advice.

Customer service agents, who are paid just above minimum wage and work from home, in many cases do not have the security clearance needed to access details from the secure Home office system.

A whistleblower said people were turning up at passport offices “in their droves” after getting a “bad service” from the helpline, leaving other staff working for the service to pick up the pieces. “By the time customers come to us they’re saying they’ve been cut off, had the phone put down on them, been told they’ll just have to wait for someone to get in touch and then no one gets in touch. They’re really angry,” she said.

She added that the “sheer volume” of applications combined with staffing pressures meant workers processing the documents “just can’t get through them all”.

On Friday, Dame Diana Johnson MP, chair of the home affairs committee, urged the Home Office, which runs the Passport Office, to review its five-year, £22.8m contract with Teleperformance, whose helpline she said was “one of the biggest frustrations cited by applications”.

In a letter to the home secretary Priti Patel, she said the department must focus on “upskilling call operators” so they could access secure systems and “provide meaningful, timely and useful advice”. She said she was “extremely disappointed” by “the refusal” of Teleperformance to appear before the committee, which she said raised questions about the accountability of Home Office contractors.

Ministers first knew that Teleperformance was not hitting targets last summer after an official report found that its running of Home Office contact centre services “did not meet threshold levels and was unsatisfactory” by several measures.

By October its performance rating on answering calls and emails promptly had fallen further to “inadequate”, according to a subsequent audit. It said the supplier and Passport Office were “working closely” to improve the service by “increasing the number of security-cleared staff required to undertake the work” – yet the same problems were being raised by MPs last week.

Stephen Kinnock, Labour’s shadow minister for immigration, said the “meltdown at the Passport Office” was having a “catastrophic impact” on people across the UK.

Priti Patel was warned by officials last year that the Passport Office was underperforming and was not going to be able to cope with the entirely predictable post-lockdown surge, but she didn’t lift a finger,” he said.

The Public and Commercial Services Union said: “This situation is not a failure of staff, who work tirelessly to meet demand, but a failure of the government.”

The Passport Office said that since last April it had told people to allow up to 10 weeks for passport applications as a result of increased demand. A spokeswoman said 97.7% of applications were processed within that time in the first half of 2022, but that people should “apply with plenty of time prior to travelling” because the Office could not “compromise security checks”.

​Teleperformance UK said: “Over the past months, Teleperformance has worked with its client to handle an unprecedented surge in volumes and our current service levels have significantly improved.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
China and Russia Deploy Seductive Espionage Networks to Infiltrate U.S. Tech Sector
Apple’s ‘iPhone Air’ Collapses After One Month — Another Major Misstep for the Tech Giant
Graham Potter Begins New Chapter as Sweden Head Coach on Short-Term Deal
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa Alleges Poison Plot via Chocolate and Jam
Lakestar to Halt External Fundraising as Investor in Revolut and Spotify
U.S. Innovation Ranking Under Scrutiny as China Leads Output Outputs but Ranks 10th
Three Men Arrested in London on Suspicion of Spying for Russia
Porsche Reverses EV Strategy as New CEO Bets on Petrol and Hybrids
Singapore’s Prime Minister Warns of ‘Messy’ Transition to Post-American Global Order
Andreessen Horowitz Sets Sights on Ten-Billion-Dollar Fund for Tech Surge
US Administration Under President Donald Trump Reportedly Lifts Ban on Ukraine’s Use of Storm Shadow Missiles Against Russia
‘Frightening’ First Night in Prison for Sarkozy: Inmates Riot and Shout ‘Little Nicolas’
White House Announces No Imminent Summit Between Trump and Putin
US and Qatar Warn EU of Trade and Energy Risks from Tough Climate Regulation
Apple Challenges EU Digital Markets Act Crackdown in Landmark Court Battle
Nicolas Sarkozy begins five-year prison term at La Santé in Paris
Japan stocks surge to record as Sanae Takaichi becomes Prime Minister
×