As of 2026, the standard price for renewing an adult UK passport online is £88.50. If you’re old school and prefer to post a paper form, that jumps to £100. Yes, that’s a £11.50 surcharge for the pleasure of licking a stamp and hoping your envelope doesn’t get lost in a Royal Mail sorting office. It’s like paying extra for a pizza that might arrive cold—just not worth the drama.
And if you’re renewing for a child under 16? That’s £57.50 online and £69 by post. The government knows that kids grow fast and lose their passports under the sofa cushions, so they keep the price slightly less painful. It’s still more than a family trip to the cinema, but at least it doesn’t come with noisy teenagers kicking your chair.
The Expedited Option: When You’ve Left It Until the Day Before
Now, if you’re the kind of person who books a holiday and then checks your passport expiry date, you’re about to enter the Premium Upgrade Zone. This is the passport world’s version of buying a first-class train ticket because you missed the last standard one. The Fast Track service allows you to renew in one week for £166.50 (online) or via a paper form for £174.50.
If you’re really in a panic—like, your flight leaves tomorrow and your passport is currently a receipt from a kebab shop—you can use the Online Premium Service. This lets you get a new passport in as little as 24 hours, but it costs a whopping £207.50. That’s nearly the price of a budget return flight to Spain. You basically pay for the privilege of not having a full-on existential crisis at the airport check-in desk.
