Need to travel - Getting passports back

Hello,

Need some advice on getting my passports back from the home office - I applied for HSMP on the 23d of march, and now I see there is no requirement for the home office to hold my passports until a decision needs to be taken. I can then send my passports back to the homeoffice when they tell me about it. My questions to you people are :

1. Would I incur any more delays if the HomeOffice do not have my passports at hand when they arrive on a decision, they need to send a letter informing me of the decision, and then I need to send them my passports....

2. Since they are processing the February 5th applications nowadays, it might take them 2 months before they start processing the 23d March applications. Has anyone requested a passport back from the homeoffice, and how long does it take ?

Would appreciate any help, thanks!

cheers