There was a “temporary surge” in demand for new passports before more than 1,000 passport workers began a five-week strike.
The Home Office confirmed an increase in applications but said the amount was “close” to estimated levels.
There are currently no plans to change the 10-week policy for processing and shipping passports.
Public and Commercial Union members have gone on strike for up to the 5th consecutive May over jobs, wages and working conditions.
Workers will go on strike across England, Scotland and Wales from Monday, while workers in Belfast will go on strike from April 7th to May 5th.
The PCS union has warned of delays in passport applications and deliveries ahead of the summer.
But the Home Office told the BBC that although demand has increased, “the number of passport applications remains close to the forecast volume”.
“There are currently no plans to change our guidance that says it takes up to 10 weeks to get a passport,” it said.
- When will the passport office go on strike and how do you renew your UK passport?
The Home Office said it was “disappointed” with the strike action, adding it was “working to manage the disruption” and continue the service through “comprehensive contingency plans”.
More than 4,000 people work at the Passport Office across the UK, which means around one in four workers will become active, according to union figures.
The union said the strikes were designed to cause mass disruption and involve members working in departments that check passports – more than 1,300 people.
Affected offices in England, Scotland and Wales include Durham, Glasgow, Liverpool, London, Newport, Peterborough and Southport.
At peak times – including the month of April, when the strike will take place – the passport office can receive 250,000 applications per week, travel expert Simon Calder said previously.
He added that this means more than a million job applications could be sent out during the strike period.
According to Passportwaitingtime.com, an independent crowdsourcing website that relies on people entering their own application waiting times, current waiting times for the first adult passport are just over 18 days, while renewals are just over 14 days.
But there are fears the strikes could result in passports not being processed in time for some people’s bank holidays.
A UK adult passport is valid for 10 years, but when it expires you may be denied entry to some countries. Advice for each country can be found on the government’s website for overseas travel advice.
In December last year, the National Audit Office (NAO) watchdog found that delays in passport processing affected hundreds of thousands of people.
Around 360,000 customers would have waited more than 10 weeks to receive their passports in the first nine months of 2022 and it has been warned that as many as 10 million applications could potentially be made this year.
PCS Secretary-General Mark Serwotka previously said the strike action stemmed from the government’s refusal to increase a proposed 2% pay rise and ministers “failed to hold meaningful talks”.
Inflation, which is the rate at which consumer prices are rising, was 10.4% in February. A multi-million dollar strike fund, financed by a levy from PCS members, has been set up to pay workers in full over the five-month-week strike, the union has said.
The government has called on the union to “recognize what is reasonable and affordable as the whole country faces these cost of living challenges”.
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