Management Toolkit

IT glitch hits passport system

Kable

Published: 12 Jul 2006 16:40 BST

The Identity and Passport Service (IPS) began its phase two trial of the new Siemens Business Service EPA2 passport application service on 16 May, 2006. But three weeks later, IPS found the new system was stopping staff turning around passport applications within three weeks.

The Home Office agency has now withdrawn the online application service and reverted to using the original system, EPA1, which EPA2 was supposed to replace.

A Home Office spokesperson said that staff at the IPS in Newport, South Wales, were tackling the backlog.

"Staff are physically dragging up to 500 applications a day out of the system. They should all be cleared in 10 days," the spokesperson said.

Of the 18,000 applications received via EPA2, 13,000 have been processed and passports issued, but 5,000 remain unprocessed.

Under the system, applicants fill in the form online, pay online and can print out the form. They then send the old travel document plus photos to the Passport Service, which then issues the travel document. However, IPS staff have asked some customers to submit paper forms instead to speed up their application.

Bernard Herdan, IPS executive director of service delivery, said: "The new EPA2 system was only introduced following a test programme lasting eight months, but as with any pilot system, teething problems can sometimes occur and our priority is to ensure that the lessons from them are learnt."

The problem has caused further embarrassment for the Home Office, which has frequently praised the IPS for producing high levels of customer satisfaction.

IPS is also the organisation that is to develop the controversial ID card system.