If you or anyone else in your family needs to renew a passport soon, you should get a move on. From the 27th March the cost of renewing a passport is going up.
If you apply online in advance, the cost increase will be minimal, but obviously if you need to renew several passports in one go, it will add up. If you prefer to apply through the post, or you need your new passport in a hurry, then there is a massively increased cost. The Post Office’s Check and Send service is not going up however, and will stay at £9.75.
Adult online application
Was: £72.50 Now: £75.50 – 4% increase
Adult postal application
Was: £72.50 Now: £85.00 – 17% increase
Child online application
Was: £46.00 Now: £49.00 – 7% increase
Child postal application
Was: 46.00 Now: £58.50 – 27% increase
Fast-track passport renewal costs are also increasing:
Premium Service (1 day): was: £128: now: £177
Fast-track Service (1 week): was: £103 now £142
(Both prices for adult standard passports)
How to beat the passport renewal charge increases
- Check the expiry date on the passport for every member of your family if you’re at all unsure.
- If it needs doing soon, make sure you renew your passport before March 27th.
TIP: Here’s something a lot of people will not be aware of: any time left on your existing passport, (up to a maximum of 9 months), will be automatically added to your new one. So if your passport is not due to expire until late December 2018, if you renew now you will pay the current price, but your new passport will still be valid until December 2028 as those extra nine months will be added on!
- Renew online if you can. I’ve done it for my son, and the process was pain-free and takes no longer than filling it in by hand.
- Try and avoid the need for the fast-track passport renewal services if at all possible.
- Always renew your passports through the official government website: https://www.gov.uk/browse/abroad/passports – if you use a secondary agent, it can make it much more expensive.
How does Brexit affect passport renewals
After the UK leaves the European Union it will revert to the old-style blue passports. It’s my understanding that there will not be a big switch-over, and that the burgundy passports will continue to be valid. You will just get a blue passport next time you come to renew.
That does make sense, because if 40 million-odd people all submitted renewal applications at the same time it would be absolute chaos.
Please share this article, let’s try and help as many people avoid these increased charges as possible.
