Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency: Internet
(asked on 8th June 2022) - View Source
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to help ensure that the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency webchat facility is always available to the public; and if he will make a statement.
The table below shows the average waiting time for customers to speak to a Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) agent by telephone in each of the last 12 months.
Month | Minutes |
May 22 | 10.5 |
April 22 | 12.4 |
March 22 | 14.5 |
February 22 | 18.0 |
January 22 | 13.2 |
December 21 | 9.9 |
November 21 | 9.1 |
October 21 | 7.3 |
September 21 | 8.7 |
August 21 | 9.8 |
July 21 | 9.9 |
June 21 | 13.2 |
The DVLA contact centre is actively recruiting and training additional staff to help reduce the waiting times for customers.
The DVLA has increased the number of services it offers through webchat, which can be accessed at any time. Advisors are available during the contact centre opening hours. The webchat services have been enhanced to use chatbots, which are also always available to help with general information. These are popular with customers as they reduce the time taken to deal with a query, many of which are answered without the need to speak to an advisor. In the last 12 months over 2 million customer enquiries have been answered either by a webchat advisor or by chatbot.