Driving Licences

(asked on 17th November 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps his Department has taken to help DVLA reduce the backlog of applications for driving licences.


Answered by
Trudy Harrison Portrait
Trudy Harrison
This question was answered on 24th November 2021

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)’s 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 and the DVLA receives 60,000 items of mail each day. The latest information on turnaround times for paper driving licence applications can be found here.

The DVLA has introduced additional online services, recruited more staff and has secured extra office space in Swansea and Birmingham to house more staff to help reduce waiting times while providing future resilience and business continuity.

These measures are having a positive impact. In particular, the focus on vocational driving licence applications to support the HGV driver shortage has been successful with routine vocational applications now being processed within normal turnaround times. Backlogs are also reducing in other areas.

The DVLA understands the impact that delays can have on people’s everyday lives and is working as quickly as possible to process paper applications and return people’s documentation to them.

I am pleased to say that the speed of reducing the number of paper applications awaiting processing will be improved by the recent positive news that the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) did not reach the minimum threshold of a 50 per cent turnout in its recent ballot of members to continue industrial action.

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