Her Majesty's Passport Office Employee Reviews

Throughout my time at hmpo, I've gained experience in all areas. Some are incredibly more stressful than others but are paid the same if not worse. The senior managers never seem interested in you unless they need you to do overtime or cover during rail strikes. The work itself is straightforward but tedious meaning you almost have to beg for more responsibility or tasks to do. It's a good place for experience and definitely a stepping stone to better places or higher positions within hmpo.

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Strict and non-understanding

Passport Officer (Former Employee) - Peterborough - 13 September 2023

Management didn't really know how to manage people. The staff are not the priority. If you need time off sick or for an appointment you're made to feel bad for asking. Quite a few people got sacked while I was there for having too much time off sick.Colleagues were nice.

Pros

Nice colleagues, good pension

Cons

Non flexible approach to staff memebers

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Pressured and poorly paid

Administrative Officer (Former Employee) - Newport - 10 May 2023

Little training, pressured targets, very low morale, very poorly paid for skills and ecpentations of staff. Bullying high handed management in some departments and areas.

Pros

Flexi time

Cons

Pressured targets, low pay and morale

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Fun place to work

Administration Assistant (Former Employee) - Peterborough - 30 January 2023

Relaxed. Enjoyed my time there. Friendly people and flexible working hours agreed by management. Senior management never around though. Targets not too hard to meet

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Awful

Customer Service Advisor (Former Employee) - bangor - 22 December 2022

You need therapy after working here . 10/10 would NOT recommend. If you value your sanity/mental health RUN! 2faced backstabbing management, overworked, poor pay etc

Pros

Wfh

Cons

Nada

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Insights into Her Majesty's Passport Office

Based on 21 survey responses

What people like

Ability to learn new things
Clear sense of purpose
Ability to meet personal goals

Areas for improvement

Energising work tasks
Trust in colleagues
Inclusive work environment

Management

Operational Team Leader (Former Employee) - Belfast - 29 October 2022

Senior management is so far up their own bum and they think they are something special, if your face doesn't fit its see you later That majority of the staff are down to earth as long as the management aren't about

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Shocking

Executive Officer (Former Employee) - Durham - 11 August 2022

Shocking place to work, bad management, back stabbing staff, lack of training, work to life balance is horrible, thrown around departments, lack of any progression

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Not paid enough for the amount of knowledge required to do the job

Passport Examiner (Current Employee) - Durham - 10 August 2022

Used to be a good place to work. Had 2 separate grades and pay for easy / more complex cases but then made it all the same grade so you've got some people doing the easiest straight forward work getting paid the same as more experienced staff doing very complex work. Support depends on your manager. Some excellent team managers but others with no people skills and no clue about the work and you wonder how on earth they got the job. Some managers are bullies by they move the lower grade victim instead of sorting the problem. Couple of good things are the flexi time and ability to take your breaks and lunch when you choose within reason.

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Good people to work with

Passport Officer (Former Employee) - Durham - 2 February 2022

Would recommend to anyone out of work and seek to get back into a job. The people you work with are friendly and training is good. Senior management are a little aloof.

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Producive & fun work place

Administrative Officer (Current Employee) - Peterborough - 14 January 2022

The training is well accurate All help is provides by management Co-workers and all are amazing There is good understanding of when to have a laugh and when work needs to get done.

Pros

Paid breaks Flexi shifts /swaps

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Home Office

Administration Officer (Former Employee) - Liverpool - 24 September 2021

I worked with Her Majesty's Passport Office 27 years.Excellent job my advise go for it. They have flexibility. Lots of department s. Colleagues friendly. Close to amenities town centre!👍😊☀️

Pros

Local town centre. Gym close by. Flexible hours, overtime if wanted

Cons

I havnt got any cons, great place to work!

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Every body was friendly and it was a nice place to work

Po1 Administrator (Former Employee) - Durham - 4 June 2021

The job was only temporary but it did get extended, it was a good place to work and the hours are flexible, the only down side was that the training wasn't the best, you get shown something once and are expected to know what to do

Pros

Flexible hours

Cons

The training wasn't the best

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Overworked, stressful and repetitive call centre

Customer Service Advisor (Current Employee) - Bangor - 11 January 2021

It's a call centre job so expect call centre level of work. Big focus on stats and KPIs. Its tiring, exhaustive and repetitive business. But if that doesn't bother you then its easy money.

Pros

Working from home

Cons

Call centre

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Not a great place to work.

Passport Officer (Current Employee) - Newport - 25 August 2020

Really stressful, micro managed with unrealistic targets, no real support for managers. If you ask for help, you won’t receive it, and you’ll be labelled as someone who speaks out. Not worth it for the salary. Despite being so many managers, they went there to help or support you. They are there to tell you off when you don’t hit the completely unrealistic targets. It’s a stressful and toxic environment and not worth your mental health.

Pros

No pros.

Cons

Stressful, unrealistic and unachievable targets, no support from managers.

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Sweatshop conditions and bullying management : evening shift Belfast

Passport Officer (Former Employee) - Belfast City Centre, County Antrim - 2 May 2020

I worked here for almost a year in a part time (evening) role. Ok let's start with the interview: This was an on site interview and was structured around the examples you gave on your application, team working, working to pace etc. An explanation of the situation, task you performed, why you did it and reflection as to how it went is all that's required here. Just remember your examples and be prepared to explain what happened in a logical sequence. And the job.... The role is basically one of processing passport applications. Sounds easy, right? Wrong. There is an absolute ton of law to know regarding who is entitled to a passport and under what circumstances. There are three or four quite complicated pieces of law going back nearly 100 years that you have to be familiar with. If this is your main job, then it's manageable. If you work part time and/or work at another job during the day, the sheer amount of information they expect you to absorb during a handful of training sessions is staggering. Also, I meant what I said about sweatshop conditions. Once you're trained you'll be given a box full of applications to process. This will involve checking whether the person is entitled to a passport by virtue of birth or some other means....if it's a child you'll also need to check who has parental responsibility.....if it's a new application you'll have to check birth/adoption certificates, make inquiries regarding the countersignatory, if the person lives in one of around 50 specific post code areas (or high risk areas) you'll also have to perform even more checks.....add -

Pros

None that spring to mind

Cons

Shoddy management, antiquated IT systems, boring repetitive work

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Good Staff

Operational Support Officer (Former Employee) - Glasgow - 28 January 2020

My initial experience was good, I started within one role and then was handpicked to go towards a different facilities role, not many employers would give you that chance in a different environment so I was thankful for this. Pay was better than most places, working hours weren't too difficult, same as most work places. Definitely scope for moving up and down the ladder as you see fit and management seemed good and supportive, I know not everyone will have this experience but I have a fairly positive one.

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Stressful and fast paced

Service Delivery Manager (Former Employee) - Victoria, Greater London - 3 January 2020

This is a place where people come to get their passports. The environment can be stressful at times due to the nature of the work and the targets that is expected of staff. Overall, the benefits are more or less that of all civil service departments however, strict management and a lack of staff awareness causes a stressful environment.

Pros

civil service

Cons

shift work and long hours

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terrible place

Administration Assistant (Former Employee) - Belfast City Centre, County Antrim - 24 December 2019

I would not recommend anyone working at HMPO belfast. i spent 3 seasons there and hated it. Hated it so much i was glad not to go back for a 4th season. You are not treated as a human being

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Excellent Environment for Team Working

Data Entry Clerk (Former Employee) - Birkdale - 6 November 2019

Input Data to Government Data Bases including Official Register Office for accurate records creation for Passport Applications. Skills Gain IT , Team Working, Collaboration, Process reviews, hardest part of job learning a new IT system. Skills gain through structured training programme.

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Nice pkace to work.

Operations Passport Officer (Former Employee) - Belfast - 1 August 2019

Management are two faced hypocrites. If you are not a brown nosing, touting, back stabbing yes man then your life is made difficult. The management punish independent thought and initiative. But reward liars. Bullying from senior managers is extremely common.

Pros

Flexitime

Cons

Managers that are bullies.

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Good role

Admin Officer (Former Employee) - Durham, Durham - 15 November 2018

Enjoyed it, liked the people who worked there, management wern't the best but the hours were good. Only had to work evenings monday to friday and got paid weekly

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