12/06/2014

Passport Backlog Measures Introduced

Just days after Home Secretary Theresa May denied claims of a passport application backlog, she has announced series of measures to solve the problem, including a free fast-track for more urgent applications.

An extra 200 staff are to be brought in to ease delays and help dealing with delayed applications, which are estimated by unions to number about 500,000.

Mrs May also told MPs that British citizens living overseas who had been trying to get their passports renewed would be given an automatic 12-month extension.

The Home Secretary has been grilled on the situation by shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper in the Commons, only two days after denying claims of a crisis.

Mrs May said the government would do "everything it can" while maintaining security to "make people get their passports in time," but admitted there was no "big bang, single solution."

(CVS/IT)

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