Sent a request for return of EEA 3 Passport due to emergency travel on 20th November. Received our documents back with Permanent residence issued on the 22nd of November.
If your case is straight forward,You can just ask for your passport back after 4months and see how they speed things up!! I asked for the passport back just to see if they have approved for EEA3 as i assumed its quicker than EEA4. They put things together in 2days

Best of luck!!