DVSA's Hiring Flop: Long Wait for Driving Tests

Governments Effort to Hire More Driving Test Examiners Fails, Leaving Young Drivers in Limbo

The governments attempt to hire more driving test examiners to reduce long waiting times has been a dismal failure. Despite running nineteen recruitment rounds since 2021, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has only managed to hire a mere 327 out of 11,132 applicants, a mere 3% success rate. This has resulted in an average waiting time of 22 weeks for a practical test, a significant increase from the 5-week wait in February 2020. Critics, including shadow transport minister Richard Holden, have labeled the effort a spectacular flop under Labour, leaving young drivers to bear the brunt of additional lessons, high insurance costs, and no test slots in sight. The AA has also expressed concern over the steep applicant drop-off, which is negatively impacting peoples jobs, school, social lives, and family duties. The National Audit Office estimates that the DVSA needs 400 new examiners to meet a 7-week target by the end of 2027, but with a 12% annual quit rate, the DVSA is only managing to hire around 140 new examiners per year. This hiring snag is causing the backlog to grow, and experts are calling for the DVSA to rethink and recruit smarter to avoid even longer waiting times.

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