The DVSA has confirmed seven changes to driving tests that will be implemented in 2025. The measures are aimed at enabling the 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.
Waiting times are expected to decrease to seven weeks, while nearly 2 million driving tests are scheduled to be conducted between April 2024 and March 2025. Lilian Greenwood, Labour Party Minister for the Future of Roads, stated: “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 6 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.”
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“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.”
The DVSA will recruit and train 450 driving examiners. The positions were advertised on the Civil Service jobs website in two phases in June and July 2024 and September and October 2024. The DVSA continues to recruit and is currently training candidates who were successful during the first recruitment campaign.
They will begin conducting driving tests in the coming months. The rules for booking driving tests are set to be reviewed and improved. A call for evidence about the current rules and processes will be launched, followed by an analysis of the evidence and development of proposals to improve the rules and booking system.
The DVSA also plans to run a consultation on the proposed improved rules and introduce them – changing the law if necessary. This process will take time to complete, and it will take some time for learner drivers and driving instructors to see improvements.
However, it is hoped that this will make the system fairer for learners and better protect them from exploitation.
Tougher terms and conditions are set to be introduced 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 stipulate that only driving instructors or businesses that employ driving instructors can use the service to book car driving tests.
The new terms and conditions clarify that driving instructors and businesses must not book driving tests on behalf of learner drivers they are not teaching. They also prevent 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.
The amount of time people have to wait to book another test in certain situations will be increased. The DVSA is set to run a consultation on new proposals that could see drivers waiting longer to rebook their test if they commit multiple serious or dangerous faults, physically or verbally assault their examiner, or fail to attend without notifying the DVSA. They may also face a penalty charge.
The notice period required to change or cancel a driving test without losing the fee will be increased from three clear working days to ten. This change was proposed in 2022.
However, refunds will still be available for learner drivers in cases of illness or bereavement. The current 24-week limit on how far ahead car driving tests can be booked may also be changed, with any alterations made to better understand demand at each test centre.
The DVSA will persist with its ‘Ready to Pass?’ initiative. The agency’s research indicates that approximately 23% of learner drivers attempt their first driving test within a month of commencing lessons.
The campaign is designed to alter this trend, concentrating on aiding learners in comprehending the necessary skills, offering advice on nerve management, providing realistic mock tests, and explaining the driving test process.