Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of waiving the cost of passport renewal in the event that renewal is required as a result of a passport having been damaged by a (a) UK and (b) foreign border control agent.

The circumstances where a passport fee may be waived are set out in the Passport (Fees) Regulations 2022. Further waivers to the passport fee would result in a reduction in income for covering the costs of administering a passport application, which may result in an increase in other passport fees or an increase to the burden upon the taxpayer.

In the circumstances where a passport has been damaged when being used for processing at a country’s border, His Majesty’s Passport Office would advise the holder to follow the complaints process of the relevant border agency.