Hi, this is by no way a gloating post and I hope those who are having troubles get their passports soon.
We applied for 4 renewals, 2 adults and 2 children in April.
3 of them came back between 19 and 23 days after submission. The last asked for further info so we got a phone call back as they had the document requested. Sorted and the 4th was back 5 days later.
So the system can work.