DVSA set out its plan to reduce driving test waiting times. One of the measures is to recruit and train more driving examiners (DE).
They know one of the reasons waiting times are high is because more people want driving tests than ever before.
Recruiting and training DEs is one of the ways they can provide more tests to meet this increased demand.
Since July 2024 they have recruited and trained 271 examiners who are now in post and delivering driving tests. To add to this, there are currently:
Not everyone who passes the initial recruitment stage makes it either into, or out of, training to become permanent DEs.
DVSA are also continuing to work towards doubling the number of examiners they can train at any one time. By increasing training capacity, they’ll be able to get more new examiners to the frontline and testing.
DVSA are seeing more existing DEs leave the agency. If they can retain some of those examiners, while bringing new ones in, there’s a much greater chance of making additional tests available for your pupils to book.
To encourage existing examiners to stay they are introducing an incentive payment for the next 12 months. For every examiner who stays, we will keep 1,200 tests in the system.
The scheme will work alongside other measures to create more test availability, which they’ve already seen in recent statistics. In July 2025, DEs conducted over 170,000 tests. This is the highest number since March 2024.
The Future of Roads Minister is providing regular updates to the Transport Select Committee (TSC) on DVSA’s progress against the measures to tackle waiting times.
These updates are available to read on the TSC website and the most recent was published on 3 September.
In the latest letter the Minister updated that to review the current measures to reduce the driving test waiting times a taskforce was created, bringing together dedicated teams from the Department for Transport (DfT) and DVSA. Initial findings from the taskforce highlighted the complexity of the demand picture for driving tests and DVSA have been asked by the Minister to consider what further measures could be taken.
