MPs want change at DVLA after drivers lose jobs over licence delays

MPs are calling for the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) to make a series of changes to the licensing regime in a highly critical report published today (Friday, March 17).

The Public Accounts Committee has identified around three million licences that were subject to delays since April 2020, while complaints about DVLA greatly increased.

During its investigation, the MPs on the Committee received submissions from people who described losing their jobs or income and being unable to start or return to work because of the delays.

Others had difficulty arranging motor insurance or were unable to hire a vehicle or drive abroad.

Of the nearly 40 submissions received, three quarters were from customers with medical conditions requiring the DVLA to decide on their fitness to drive.

Some DVLA customers experienced isolation and worsening mental health when unable to go about their usual daily lives without a valid driving licence.   

The problems, says the committee, persisted for around two years despite the DVLA changing the law to postpone driving licence renewals, investing in new buildings and additional staff, and making more services available online.

Customers’ poor experiences were exacerbated by huge difficulty contacting the DVLA during the pandemic, it adds.   

The Committee concludes in a report, recommending a series of changes to the current licensing regime, that the DVLA’s system to process applications from customers with medical conditions is “slow, inefficient and in need of major improvement”.

These customers and those applying by post have been badly affected by the delays, it says, but adds that almost all of the 17 million customers without notifiable medical conditions had their applications processed within three working days. 

DfT approach criticised

The MPs were also critical of the Department for Transport (DfT), accusing it of taking a "hands-off" approach and failing to ensure DVLA is using modern working practices and up-to-date technology. 

Dame Meg Hillier MP, chair of the Committee, said: “The pandemic inevitably made operations more difficult, but the DVLA and DfT were not prepared for the challenge of keeping essential driving licence services running and especially not for those who needed it most.  

“Some of the DVLA’s operations are antiquated, it lacks a comprehensive strategy for modernisation and on PAC we're unconvinced they’re more ready for the next crisis.

“When that does arise it will again be the most vulnerable customers - people for whom driving is a lifeline - who are worst hit. That’s just not acceptable. The DVLA has to get its act together.” 

At the time when the Committee took evidence in November, the DVLA expected to clear its remaining backlog of such applications by January 2023, returning to meeting its target of processing at least 90% of these applications within 90 working days.

The National Audit Office report has since identified that the DVLA has cleared the backlog of standard paper applications after the first year.

Customers experiencing problems after notifying the DVLA of medical conditions have been the main source of complaints to the DVLA since 2018-19.

The DVLA’s decisions often require information from GPs and other medical professionals, which is requested and returned using paper documentation.

It intends to introduce modern, digital communications to speed up information exchange with the health sector but given the technical challenges involved, the Committee is concerned when this will be done.

Better systems needed

The report says that the DVLA should set up better systems to identify and fast-track driving licence applications where the customer is badly affected by a delay.

It also found that the DVLA’s communication during the pandemic was “ineffective”, leaving many customers feeling as if their applications were making no progress.

Between April 2020 and March 2022, due to a surge in calls, around 60 million calls to the DVLA about driving licences went unanswered, 94% of the total it received.

The number of calls it did answer fell by more than half, from over four million in 2019-20 alone, to 3.4 million over the two years from April 2020 to March 2022.

Many DVLA customers went to their MPs for help - the number of complaints about the DVLA received via MPs increased tenfold between 2019-20 and 2021-22.

Although most people affected by the backlogs were able to continue driving under an exemption in the Road Traffic Act 1988, this was not clear to many people.

The DVLA says that it has recently modernised its telephony systems, so it should be able to cope better with future surges in demand. 

In a statement, it said: “We are back to normal processing times across our services. All standard paper applications were back to normal turnaround times by May 2022.

“Our online services worked well throughout the pandemic and for the vast majority of our customers, their dealings with DVLA would have been trouble free. 98% of people who applied online received their driving licence within just a few days.

“During the pandemic, we issued more than 24 million driving licences, the vast majority of which were issued within three working days.”

The agency also pointed to the fact it faced strict lockdown rules during Covid-19 like other businesses, which resulted in a vastly reduced workforce on site, while it was also hit by industrial action by the PCS Union which targeted the Drivers Medical section and impacted its ability to process applications.

Nevertheless, the report recommends that the DVLA should improve its communication to ensure customers understand the status of their applications and are updated regularly. This should include the information that they may be able to continue to drive while they wait for their application to be processed.  

The Committee found that DVLA’s efforts to encourage customers who can use online services to do so are also not sufficient.

The DVLA, it says, rightly wants to avoid disenfranchising people unable to use online services, and its aim is to “create digital services so good people choose to use them”, while keeping a paper option available.

However, MPs say that there is considerable scope for improving take-up of DVLA’s online services and it does not agree with the DfT’s approach of not setting the DVLA any targets for digitisation and digital take-up of driving licence services. 

Actions failed to stop backlogs

During the pandemic, MPs conclude that the DVLA prioritised services with the highest volumes of applications or where it believed processing delays would cause greater problems, such as its services related to vehicles, knowing that this would take resources away from its driving licence services.

Both the DVLA and the DfT knew the system for managing paper-based driving licence applications was susceptible to disruption because it relied on people being on site.

At the onset of the pandemic the DVLA sought to make paper driving licence services more resilient. It invested in new buildings and additional staff, made changes to the law to postpone driving licence renewals, and made more services available online, but these actions failed to prevent backlogs from building up and persisting for around two years, says the report.

The DVLA also undertook work for other parts of Government during the pandemic, such as printing vaccination invitation letters, which were very important tasks, but also diverted resources from DVLA’s core services. It told the Committee this work used spare capacity in its printing and mailing facilities. 

The Committee has given the DVLA six months to share an improved contingency plan.  

Full details of this inquiry including evidence received can be found here.