For people waiting for passport from Liverpool, my wife applied on 21st August and we are going away on 25th Sept. Passport received 25th August then nothing. Phoned the helpline yesterday – 13th Sept – and was told they would flag our holiday date on the application. Approved five hours later!
Passport printed and sent 12:34pm on 14 September 2021
Application approved 3:47pm on 13 September 2021
Documents received 12:07pm on 25 August 2021
Application received 11:01am on 21 August 2021
Application submitted 11:01am on 21 August 2021
Well worth the 20 mins to get through.