Despite HMPO’s work to prepare for increased demand for passports, poor performance by contractors exacerbated issues for customers. We are concerned that in some cases it was clear that the performance of external contractors was deteriorating as early as March 2022. Sopra Steria, responsible for opening and scanning paper applications and supporting documentation, did not achieve its service levels targets for five months in 2022. Similarly, Teleperformance, responsible for the customer sup...

Despite HMPO’s work to prepare for increased demand for passports, poor performance by contractors exacerbated issues for customers. We are concerned that in some cases it was clear that the performance of external contractors was deteriorating as early as March 2022. Sopra Steria, responsible for opening and scanning paper applications and supporting documentation, did not achieve its service levels targets for five months in 2022. Similarly, Teleperformance, responsible for the customer support telephone line, did not meet its targets for four months and caused significant concerns for customers who were unable to get help. HMPO accepted th Type: conclusion | Number: 4 | Response status: accepted Government response: The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented The Home Office works to continually improve its ability to procure and manage third party suppliers, using lessons learned to further support the robust monitoring of compliance agai