As British summer approached us and passport demand naturally grew greater, we at Her Majesty’s Passport Office Newport, prepared to enter our busiest time of the year.
Careful planning, timely recruitment and thorough training for our new entrants, has enabled us to continue to deliver excellent public services - we pride ourselves on this.
For us, it’s all about the customer and our job satisfaction comes from the positive feedback we receive. Here’s an insert from a card we recently received at our customer service centre, from one of our customers who is part of the England dance team:
This is what keeps us going!
Valuing and appreciating our people
One thing we feel is key regardless of how busy we are, is to take time to value and appreciate our people. As well as ‘the day job’ we have done a lot to ensure that our staff feel supported, healthy and engaged and it can’t be a coincidence that our customer feedback reflects this.
We have a live and active area-wide staff engagement plan and do all we can to make time for our people. A supportive structure and our open, diverse and inclusive culture along with regular one-to-ones for staff and general efficient communications enable this.
As with any civil service department, we’re experiencing change at a pace and we recognise that unless our people are informed and on board, we’ll not achieve our full potential. Our change forums provide staff with an opportunity to get up to speed on plans ahead and communications via our digital screens promote understanding of the ‘bigger picture’ agenda as well as local messages. We also host regular ‘Let’s Talk About’ sessions, team briefs, giving staff the opportunity to get together and discuss Home Office topics, asking questions and gaining insight in relation to wider Civil Service themes.
The visibility of our senior leadership team, and day-to-day greetings and saying "thank you" go a long way when it comes to morale in general - and a staff night out never does morale any harm either!
As we say here, ‘this is our house’ and we pride ourselves on its upkeep.
17 comments
Comment by Nicko posted on
10 years ago we had our passports renewed by the British embassy in Germany and had mixed results, especially with their machine readability. This time round it's all centralised in Liverpool and worked an absolute treat. Top marks to HMPO for speed and clarity of instructions. It's a great relief when based abroad to get one's main ID document back so promptly.
Comment by Bibi posted on
Have paid for fast track service... undeniably stressful times having no guarantees despite paying £180.
Comment by Liz Wylie posted on
Great service from passport office, I live in Australia and I applied on line from Australia. Mine and my husband's documents were received on the 29th of January 2016 at The Passport Office in Livetpool. We received my husband's back on Wednesday 10th February 2016, less than 2 weeks from receipt and mine has been delivered today Monday 15th February 2016 just over 2 weeks. Fabulous considering they had to come all the way back to Australia. Well done passport office staff.
Comment by Mrs Akin posted on
Sent in my application for a Fast tracK service and 6 weeks later, still no Passport back. No text message, no Calls returned when they tell you thehy'll call back. Fed up with the system!!!!
Comment by Steven Robinson posted on
Sent my application through PO check&Send on 16th September, received at Peterborough on the 18th and received a text message this morning(22) saying it has been sent out for delivery.Really impressed as i need it urgently staff at the advice line and examiners at Peterborough were really pleasant to deal with i expected it to be weeks.Well done HMPO
Comment by Joy Brimecome posted on
I totally agree with Karen and Tim above. I thought it would be an interesting insight into the Passport Office, but I too wondered if the articles had been mixed up as it went totally off tangent.
Comment by Andrew Lumsden posted on
After the numerous news reports around this time last year about extensive delays in the turn round time in applying and receiving passports I needed to renew mine and did so last Oct. I took my application into my post office late on a Monday afternoon for checking and they then put it into one of their own envelopes as opposed to the one that came with the application. Thursday morning before I went to work I received a text saying it was going for printing. the same Thursday lunchtime I got another text acknowledging receipt of my application and saying it would take 3-4 weeks to process. When I got home from work on the Friday it was there on my doormat. Allowing for postage, probably a 2 day turn round time. A little less than was being reported on the news. Have just returned from 7 weeks touring the USA & Canada.
Comment by Maureen Crook posted on
Due to go on holiday in a few weeks, realised on Friday that my passport had expired, phoned passport advice line and got a fast track appointment for next day. It took 10 minutes in Liverpool passport office for forms to be checked and payment to be made and passport will be couriered to me within 7 days - great service and really friendly helpful staff!
Comment by Rachel McCann posted on
I'll add my praise of HMPO after renewing my passport a couple of years ago. I dropped my application in by hand (I used to work just up the road from HMPO Liverpool) on a Monday lunch time and the new passport was sitting on my mat when I came home from work on Thursday - excellent service. Keep up the good work !
Comment by Alastair Flannagan posted on
I would like to echo Trevor's comment. Earlier this year I renewed my passport using the on-line process. The earliest HMPO would have received my signed application was on the Wednesday. On the Friday I had a text to say the passport was on its way and I received it on the Sunday. Simply world class service from HMPO as far as I'm concerned. Thank you.
Comment by Julie Cannon posted on
My son recently got married and my daughter in law had to send in her passport to have her surname changed to her married name, this was all done within one week, she also received a text to state how the process was going, thanks very much for the efficient service, I will certainly recommend you to family & friends.
Comment by Geoffrey Head posted on
Extraordinary service from the Passport Office recently - my passport renewal request was posted on a Friday morning, I got a text message first thing on the Monday to say the application had been received and everything was in order and it should take about three weeks to renew, which I thought was pretty reasonable. Three minutes later I got a text to say it was being printed! When I got home from work on the Tuesday, it was sitting on my doormat. Absolutely amazing...
Comment by G Yates posted on
I applied for a passport renewal in April with an 8 week deadline on an online application. This just means you print off the application form yourself. My application was returned after1 week stating the signature box had ink spots in it (from the printer) & so couldn't be accepted. I phoned them & asked if everything else was acceptable & was told firstly, that my name change deed poll had not been received-meaning I had to charge round to get another deed made, and secondly that I couldn't change my name to two surnames without a hyphen- which is wrong- a person can call themselves exactly what they want. I challenged the person on the phone but he was adamant I couldn't call myself what I wanted & that the deed had not been received. I did think of complaining, but once the passport arrived- together with the TWO change of name deed polls it seemed pointless. It was my first dealings with a government department and I'm sorry to say, what a shambles. No wonder the public complain. The England Dancing team were obviously given special treatment.
Comment by Karen posted on
What’s it like in HM Passport Office during the summer rush? No idea, that wasn't mentioned in the blog. I was interested in proposed content which I opened the post and I am really disappointed with the content. Sorry, but this feels like false advertising.
Comment by Tim Jenkins posted on
Karen
my thoughts exactly! However good the passport office are, the link to this article said it was about how they deal with the summer rush........then there was no mention about the summer rush!!?! just general blather about experiencing change etc. Has Amy Price posted the wrong article / swapped a link by mistake or something?
Comment by Trevor Adams posted on
I recently applied to renew my passport. I took the application to the Post Office on Thursday and the new passport arrived the following Tuesday. That's excellent service from HMPO.
Comment by Elaine Strachan posted on
Are there any jobs going? 😉
Well done to you all for coping with such high demand and hopefully being able to go your own holidays during this busy time!