The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has today (Wednesday 18 December 2024) set out a plan to reduce driving test waiting times.
The 7-point plan recognises that the government needs to take action to fix the driving test booking system and get new drivers on the road.
Stopping learner drivers being ripped off
Lilian Greenwood, Minister for the Future of Roads, said
Passing your driving test is a life changing opportunity for millions – but sky-high waiting times for tests in recent years have denied that opportunity to too many people.
No one should have to wait six months when they’re ready to pass, travel to the other side of the country to take a driving test or be ripped off by unscrupulous websites just because they can’t afford to wait.
The scale of the backlog we have inherited is huge, but today’s measures are a crucial step to tackle the long driving test wait times, protect learner drivers from being exploited, and support more people to hit the road.
1. Recruit and train 450 driving examiners
DVSA will recruit and train 450 driving examiners across Great Britain.
The jobs were advertised on the Civil Service jobs website in 2 phases in
- June and July 2024
- September and October 2024
DVSA is continuing to recruit and is now training candidates who were successful during the first of these recruitment campaign. They will start doing driving tests over the coming months.
2. Review and improve the rules for booking driving tests
DVSA will review and improve the driving test booking system to make sure that learner drivers can book their driving test easily and efficiently.
To do this, DVSA will follow these steps
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Launch a call for evidence about the current rules and processes, which DVSA has done today (18 December 2024).
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Analyse the evidence and develop proposals to improve the rules and booking system.
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Run a consultation on the proposed improved rules.
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Introduce the improved rules – changing the law if necessary.
This work will take time to complete, and it will take some time for learner drivers and driving instructors to see improvements. But it will help to make the system fairer for learners and better protect them from being exploited.
Your experience of booking and managing car driving tests
Share your experience and views of booking and managing car driving tests to help DVSA develop proposals to improve the rules and processes.
The call for evidence closes at 1159pm on 11 February 2025.
Experience of booking and managing car driving tests.
3. Introduce tougher terms and conditions for the service driving instructors use to book and manage car driving tests for their pupils
DVSA will introduce a set of tougher terms and conditions for the service driving instructors use to book and manage driving tests for their pupils.
These new terms and conditions will come into force on 6 January 2025.
They set out that only driving instructors or businesses that employ driving instructors can use the service to book car driving tests.
The new terms and conditions make it clear that driving instructors and businesses must not book driving tests on behalf of learner drivers they are not teaching.
They also stop driving instructors and businesses from using a learner driver’s details to book a driving test that they have no intention of that particular learner driver using. This is sometimes done to create a placeholder so the test can be swapped to another learner driver later.
If anyone breaks the terms and conditions, DVSA can
- issue them with a warning notice
- suspend their account
- close their account
4. Consult on new proposals to increase the amount of time people have to wait to book another test in certain situations
DVSA will run a consultation on new proposals to increase the amount of time people have to wait to book another test if they either
- make multiple serious or dangerous faults during their driving test
- physically or verbally assault their driving examiner
- fail to attend their driving test without telling DVSA – and consider charging them a penalty
Learner drivers currently have to wait 10 working days before being able to book another test. The consultation, which will launch at a later date, will set out the full details of the potential options.
5. Increase the amount of notice you need to give to change or cancel a car driving test without losing the fee
DVSA will increase the amount of notice people need to give to change or cancel their car driving test without losing their fee to 10 clear working days.
It’s currently set at 3 clear working days. DVSA consulted on proposals to increase this in 2022.
This change will
- encourage people to change or cancel their test sooner if they’re not ready
- give more chance for appointments to be used by someone else
DVSA is working to bring in this change from spring 2025. The exact date has not yet been confirmed. DVSA will let learner drivers and driving instructors know when the date is confirmed.
Learner drivers will still be able to apply for a refund in cases such as illness or bereavement.
DVSA will continue to pay out-of-pocket expenses for any car driving tests it cancels with fewer than 3 clear working days’ notice while it conducts a review of its out-of-pocket expenses process.
6. Explore changing the current 24-week limit on how far ahead car driving tests can be booked
DVSA will explore ways of changing how far ahead car driving tests can be booked. This is currently set at 24 weeks.
Any changes DVSA makes will be made so it can better understand how many people want to take a driving test at each test centre.
7. Encourage learner drivers to be better prepared for their driving test through the ‘Ready to Pass?’ campaign
DVSA will continue to run its ‘Ready to Pass?’ campaign, which 95% of users rate as useful, to encourage learner drivers to take the right action to prepare for their driving test.
Research from DVSA shows that about 23% of learner drivers take their first attempt at the driving test within one month of starting driving lessons.
The campaign aims to change this behaviour, and focuses on helping learner drivers to
- understand what skills they need to have mastered
- prepare for their test by giving tips on managing nerves
- take a realistic mock driving test
- understand what will happen during their driving test
It also encourages people who are not ready to pass to move their test back.
Reducing waiting times
The actions being taken will help DVSA to provide 1.95 million car driving tests between April 2024 and March 2025 and to reduce the waiting time to 7 weeks by December 2025
Both of these targets have been confirmed in the DVSA business plan for 2024 to 2025.
