Delay in returning passport meant missed holiday

What happened

Mr B provided his passport as evidence that he was a European Economic Area national to help his ex-wife apply for permanent residence in the UK. His ex-wife submitted her application to UKVI with his passport in early summer 2013.

Mr B intended to go on holiday to Italy with his father at the end of summer 2013. This was very important to him because his father lived in Australia and was unlikely to travel to Europe again. Mr B needed the passport that his ex-wife had sent to UKVI. UKVI's website said that it aimed to return requested documents within 10 working days. Later in the summer of 2013, Mr B's ex-wife asked UKVI to send Mr B's passport back to him. After 20 working days, she asked again.

In late summer 2013, as he had not received his passport from UKVI, Mr B cancelled his holiday. He was able to recover the deposits for his accommodation and car hire, but he lost £218.96 on his flights. Mr B said he received his passport shortly after.

Mr B complained to UKVI. He said that he wanted compensation for the cancelled plane tickets and for the inconvenience and stress caused to him and his family. UKVI refused to compensate Mr B because its website advised people not to make non?urgent travel arrangements when not in possession of a passport.

What we found

UKVI took no action to return Mr B's passport after receiving the first request from his ex-wife. UKVI was unable to explain why. It took 14 days longer than it should have done to process Mr B's ex-wife's second request to return the passport because of backlogs. As a result, Mr B missed his holiday.

UKVI's complaint handling was poor. Rather than investigating fully what had happened to Mr B's ex-wife's requests for the return of his passport, it focused on compensation. If UKVI had concentrated on the issues that caused the delay, it would have realised that it had missed its service standard twice by a considerable margin.

Putting it right

UKVI apologised to Mr B and paid him £218.96 for the lost flights and £300 to reflect the loss of his planned holiday, as well as the frustrating effects of its poor complaint handling.