The cost of a new passport could rise by a whopping £32 in a move that would affect millions of holidaymakers. Ministers have been urged to increase the current £95 renewal fee to address a £233m black hole in the Passport Office’s 2024 budget.
The Passport Office had a total deficit of £916m over the last five years. The National Audit Office (NAO), the UK’s independent public spending watchdog, has recommended that the Passport Office increase the cost of its services to address the issue. NAO, which is overseen by Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, said it should raise the cost of services in a “reasonable time”. It did not, however, give a figure for how much the passport renewal fees should increase by.
According to The Telegraph, the Passport Office would need to charge each applicant £32 more to overcome last year’s shortfall.
A Home Office spokesperson said there were no “immediate plans” to increase fees.
Earlier this year, the Government confirmed a 7% hike in passport fees from April 10.
The fee for a standard passport application jumped this year from £88.50 to £94.50.
The cost of children’s passports rose too, from £57.50 to £61.50.
And the One Day Premium Service – which is available if you need to get your passport renewed quickly – also increased from April and now costs £222 for adults and £189 for children.
Defending the blow to hard-pressed Brits, the Government argued the fees “will help the Home Office to continue to move towards a system that meets its costs through those who use it, reducing reliance on funding from general taxation”.
The announcement added: “The fees contribute to the cost of processing passport applications, consular support overseas, including for lost or stolen passports, and the cost of processing British citizens at UK borders.”
The call for higher passport renewal fees came in a wider report by the National Audit Office into government services.
A total analysis of key government services led to a £340million shortfall in income being discovered.
Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, said: “Government bodies provide important services for the public and businesses, including issuing passports and driving licences, and filing company information.
“But many are not consistently recovering their costs – posing risks to the financial resilience of these services and fairness between users.
“HM Treasury should strengthen how it oversees cost recovery processes and provide more comprehensive guidance to charging bodies.”