Driving Licences: Medical Examinations
(asked on 4th October 2024) - View Source
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the DVLA is taking to reduce the time it takes to respond to drivers medical referrals.
The following table shows the number of drivers medical cases the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has resolved in each of the last five calendar years.
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
All drivers medical decisions made | 766,283 | 556,382 | 550,773 | 863,431 | 723,126 |
30 working days or more to make a licensing decision | 275,615 | 278,672 | 368,029 | 584,226 | 380,132 |
Proportion of licensing decisions made over 30 working days | 35.97% | 50.09% | 66.82% | 67.66% | 52.57% |
60 working days or more to make a licensing decision | 129,321 | 167,311 | 263,084 | 453,639 | 213,639 |
90 working days or more to make a licensing decision | 72,897 | 101,363 | 191,618 | 340,712 | 136,735 |
Six months or more to make a licensing decision (182 working days) | 17,651 | 19,328 | 82,895 | 154,507 | 55,854 |
One year or more to make a licensing decision (365 working days) | 346 | 613 | 4,547 | 14,105 | 11,759 |
To note, cases are classed as “resolved” when a licensing decision is made and the appropriate action is taken. Some cases may have been resolved but remain open for administrative reasons, for example, payments to third parties still needing to be fulfilled before the case can be closed.
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) aims to make a licensing decision within 90 working days, in 90% of cases where a medical condition(s) must be investigated before a licence can be issued.
Medical applications can take longer because the DVLA is very often reliant on receiving information from third parties, for example doctors or other healthcare professionals, before a decision can be made on whether to issue a licence.
Drivers with diabetes, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, visual impairments, sleep conditions, or heart conditions can renew their driving licence online. The DVLA has also introduced a simplified licence renewal process for drivers with epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, some mental health conditions, and glaucoma. This has significantly reduced the need for the DVLA to seek further information from medical professionals and enabled more licensing decisions to be made based on the information provided by the driver.
In July 2022, the law changed to widen the pool of registered healthcare professionals who can provide information as part of the DVLA’s medical investigations into a person’s fitness to drive. Previously, this information could only be provided by a doctor. GP surgeries and hospital teams now have greater flexibility to decide how they manage the DVLA’s requests for information.
Most applicants renewing an existing licence will be able to continue driving while their application is being processed, providing the driver can meet specific criteria. More information can be found online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inf1886-can-i-drive-while-my-application-is-with-dvla.