An replace from DVSA
DVSA stays dedicated to decreasing driving take a look at ready occasions.
The common ready time for a automotive sensible driving take a look at as of the top of Could 2025 is:
- Nice Britain – 22.5 weeks
- Wales – 19.1 weeks
- Scotland – 21 weeks
- England – 22.8 weeks
The common ready time is the variety of weeks earlier than 10% of checks can be found to e book.
DVSA’s figures for common driving take a look at ready occasions stay appropriate on the time of publication. These are official statistics and no different legitimate measures for driving take a look at ready occasions exist.
DVSA launched its session on bettering driving take a look at reserving guidelines on 28th Could 2025. The session closes on 9th July 2025.
Loveday Ryder, DVSA Chief Government, mentioned: “We’ve been working tirelessly to deliver down the driving take a look at ready occasions. To assist sort out this, in December 2024 we introduced a brand new plan, on which we’re making good progress.
“DVSA is at the moment operating a session on enhancements we will make to the take a look at reserving system, which can assist us plan our subsequent steps.
“DVSA’s aim is to make reserving a driving take a look at simpler and fairer for everybody whereas stopping extreme expenses for learner drivers. GOV.UK is the one official method to e book your sensible driving take a look at.”
Additional Data
Session on bettering automotive driving take a look at reserving guidelines
The session asks for views on:
- Who needs to be allowed to e book and handle driving checks
- If we should always restrict or take away the power to swap checks between completely different learners or change take a look at areas
Quite than creating new legal guidelines particularly banning the reselling of checks, the session focuses on proposals to vary how the system works to assist stop reselling. That is preferable because it:
- stops the issue at its supply quite than simply the signs
- can be extra instantly efficient than enforcement after resales occur
- makes the system fairer for all learners with out creating further regulatory burden
The adjustments proposed would make take a look at reselling virtually not possible, whereas preserving authentic makes use of of the system by learners and instructors.
Extra particulars concerning the session can be found on GOV.UK.
Sensible driving take a look at ready occasions
Automotive sensible take a look at ready occasions started to extend in 2020 after a number of months of driving checks being suspended, a sustained improve in demand and low learner driver confidence in driving take a look at availability, leading to a change of their reserving behaviour. This variation in behaviour has endured.
Many learner drivers e book their checks early of their studying journey. On common it takes learners drivers 6 months or longer to achieve the on-road expertise wanted to be able to drive safely on their very own as soon as they’ve handed.
DVSA offered over 1.95 million sensible driving checks within the yr 2024-5.
Measures to cut back ready occasions
The Secretary of State introduced additional motion to assist scale back ready occasions on 23 April 2025.
These included:
- A quick-tracked launch for our deliberate session on placing a cease to the exploitation of learner drivers – launched on 28 Could 2025
- Incentivised further testing gives for driving examiners – doubtlessly creating hundreds of additional checks per 30 days
- Doubling our everlasting coaching capability for brand new driving examiners – that means extra can begin finishing up driving checks sooner
- A name for volunteers from these at the moment in different roles (however certified to look at) to hold out sensible driving checks
The Division for Transport’s press launch may be seen right here: Transport Secretary acts to make hundreds of additional driving checks out there every month – GOV.UK
This adopted a plan introduced in December 2024 to cut back ready occasions.
These measures are:
- Recruit and practice 450 driving examiners.
- Evaluation and enhance the principles for reserving driving checks.
- Introduce harder phrases and circumstances for the service driving instructors use to e book and handle automotive driving checks for his or her pupils.
- Seek the advice of on new proposals to extend the ready time to e book one other take a look at in sure conditions.
- Improve the quantity of discover it’s essential to give to vary or cancel a automotive driving take a look at with out dropping the payment to 10 days.
- Discover altering the present 24-week restrict on how far forward automotive driving checks may be booked.
- Encourage learner drivers to be higher ready for his or her driving take a look at by way of the ‘Able to Move?’ marketing campaign.
DVSA’s press launch may be seen right here: DVSA units out plan to cut back driving take a look at ready occasions – GOV.UK
DVSA’s progress to this point towards the measures:
- DVSA’s newest driving examiner recruitment marketing campaign has lately closed, and we’re at the moment processing the functions
- the introduction of harder phrases and circumstances for driving instructors who can e book checks for his or her pupils (6 January)
- adjustments to the brief discover cancellation interval carried out (8 April)
- following a name for proof (answered by over 27,000 individuals), DVSA launched its session on 28 Could on the reserving of driving checks
In January 2023, DVSA modified the phrases and circumstances for utilizing the reserving service to assist stop anybody from promoting checks at revenue.
Between 9 January 2023 and 5 January 2025, the DVSA issued 350 warnings, 792 suspensions, and closed 813 enterprise accounts for misuse of its reserving service.
On 6 January 2025 ,DVSA launched new phrases and circumstances to be used of the service driving instructors and trainers use to e book and handle sensible driving checks for his or her pupils.
Since this transformation DVSA has issued 73 warnings, 217 suspensions, and closed 358 enterprise accounts.
