Travelers are hurrying to renew their passports as a five-week strike by more than 1,000 passport workers gets underway Monday.
For those requesting a new passport, the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) Union predicted that the strike will cause “major delays.”
‘There will be tremendous delays in the already 10 weeks that people are intended to apply for passports, and there will be huge disruption on the fast-track process,’ said Mark Serwokta, the union’s general secretary, to Sky News.
‘The government says it has got contingency measures in place so we’ll see how that works out over the next few days and weeks, but I would expect there to be delays.’
The Home Office confirmed there has been a ‘temporary increase’ in applications since it was announced workers will walk out from today.
But the amount is ‘close’ to the levels they estimated, and the 10-week advisory wait time remains unchanged.
A spokesperson told the BBC: ‘The number of passport applications remains close to forecasted volumes.
‘There are currently no plans to change out guidance which states that it takes up to 10 weeks to get a passport.’
Members of the PCS Union are striking until May 5 in a row over pay and conditions.
Current waiting times for first adult passports are just over 18 days while renewals are just over 14 days, according to Passportwaitingtime.co.uk.
People who require an urgent passport on compassionate grounds will still be able to apply for one.
But there will be a reduction in the number of appointments for other ‘urgent’ services.
Mr Serwokta said there has been ‘radio silence’ from the government without even ‘one minute’ of negotiations since strikes began.
He added: ‘This strike is a significant escalation because the Government’s own workforce are living in in-work poverty – 40,000 using food banks, 45,000 claiming in-work benefits, and now an estimated 60,000 to 70,000 on the national minimum wage.’