Passport due for renewal at an awkward time

You are going to visit a country that needs a visa, and you have to apply just at the time you are due to go on holiday with your family.

Or maybe you are visiting a country which requires you to have a passport valid for three or six months beyond your visit dates, while your passport is due to expire just two months after your travels.

While this can be a nuisance, it need not cost you any more than regular passport renewal.

You can renew your UK passport at any time within its last six months of validity and it will be valid for ten years from the date of expiry of your present document, not from its own date of issue.

In fact, as passport fees only ever go up, maybe you should consider renewing six months early as a matter of course.