Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reason (a) there have been delays in excess of six months for provisional licence and driving licence renewal applications to be processed and (b) applicants have been unable to contact the DVLA by phone during this period; and what steps he is taking to tackle those issues.

The quickest and easiest way to make an application to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is by using its extensive suite of online services. There are no delays in successful online applications and customers should receive their documents within a few days.

However, many people still choose or have to make a paper application. The DVLA receives around 60,000 items of mail every day and industrial action by members of the Public and Commercial Services union has led to delays for customers, alongside a significantly reduced number of staff on site to ensure social distancing in line with Welsh Government requirements. The current increased demand for the DVLA’s services has also contributed to delays with paper applications.

Paper driving licence applications are currently taking between six and ten weeks to process. There may be additional delays in processing more complex transactions, for example if medical investigations are needed. The latest information on turnaround times for paper driving licence applications can be found here.

The DVLA continues to explore opportunities to reduce turnaround times and has been developing additional new online services and recruiting additional staff. The DVLA is exploring the possibility of securing extra office space to accommodate more staff to work predominantly on driver’s medical casework and queries. This will be surge capacity accommodation and resource to help reduce backlogs while providing future resilience and business continuity.

The DVLA has a number of communication channels for applicants to seek updates on their applications. As well as the contact centre’s telephone enquiry lines there are also email and webchat services available via GOV.UK. The DVLA’s contact centre has introduced extended opening hours and increased remote working with some staff handling email, webchat, social media and more recently telephone customer contacts remotely.