I have been chasing the IR for when I can expect to receive my renewed E106 certificate and found out today that they are currently dealing with correspondence received on 28 June and that my forms sent 25 July (but apparently not received until 2 Aug) will be at least another 4 weeks before they get to the top of the pile! Still at least this info was more helpful than the person I spoke to last week who refused to even confirm whether they had received my application or not. Apparently, they are being deluged by applications from people wanting to leave the UK. I wonder why!