DVLA to take over vehicle services in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland motorists will benefit from the same services as motorists in the rest of the UK from July 2014, as a result of changes announced today by Roads Minister Stephen Hammond.

This means NI motorists will, for the first time, be able to tax vehicles online or by phone. Motorists will also have access to more face-to-face vehicle registration and licensing services than ever before at around 175 Post Office® branches across NI.

Following consultation, the proposal will also include additional support for customers and staff, to help the move to these new services. As well as improving services for NI motorists and businesses, the reforms will result in an estimated £12 million year on year saving.

Roads Minister Stephen Hammond said: "Motorists in Northern Ireland have not been able to access many of the vehicle registration and licensing services that are taken for granted in the rest of the UK. These changes will address this and will mean that for the first time, Northern Ireland motorists will have greater choice and flexibility or where, when and how they use these services.

"We have listened very carefully to the points raised during consultation, particularly about the uncertainty for the Driver and Vehicle Agency (DVA) staff who currently provide vehicle registration and licensing services. While the changes mean DVA will no longer provide these services, the Department of the Environment in Northern Ireland has said that they will try to avoid redundancies and minimise the amount of compulsory redundancies as a result of these changes. DVA staff will continue to provide support to customers until the end of the year while the new services are fully bedded in.

"I would like to thank the staff in DVA for their continued support, and their hard work in delivering vehicle registration and licensing services to Northern Ireland motorists over the years."

Driver licensing is a devolved matter in NI and will remain the responsibility of DVA, although the eight DVA offices will close by the end of this year.