Driving Licences

(asked on 18th August 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the current waiting period is for receipt of a renewed driving licence; and what steps his Department is taking to reduce that waiting period.


Answered by
Rachel Maclean Portrait
Rachel Maclean
This question was answered on 6th September 2021

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency’s (DVLA) online services are the quickest and easiest way to renew a driving licence. There are no delays in successful online applications and customers should receive their driving licence within a few days.

However, many people still choose or have to make a paper application for a driving licence. The DVLA receives around 60,000 items of mail every day which must be dealt with in person. Ongoing industrial action by members of the Public and Commercial Services union is leading to delays for customers who make paper applications.

Currently, paper applications are likely to take between six and ten weeks to process. There may be additional delays in processing more complex transactions, for example, if medical investigations are needed as part of a driving licence application. The latest information on turnaround times for paper driving licence applications can be found here.

The DVLA has leased an additional building to accommodate more operational staff and has reconfigured its accommodation to safely maximise the number of staff on site and is working hard to process applications as quickly as possible. The DVLA has accelerated the development of additional online services to reduce the number of paper applications and supported their take up through a publicity campaign. Further digital service enhancements are underway.

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