Efforts to hire more practical driving test examiners in the UK have fallen short, with just 3 percent of applicants securing positions amid ongoing delays for learner drivers.
Low Success Rate in Applications
Figures indicate that out of 11,132 applicants last year, only 327 succeeded in becoming practical driving test examiners—one in every 34 candidates. The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has launched 19 recruitment campaigns since 2021 to address average waiting times of 22 weeks for practical tests.
Challenges in Meeting Targets
The National Audit Office highlighted the need for 400 additional examiners to join the current 1,556, aiming to reduce waits to seven weeks by the end of 2027. However, around 12 percent of examiners—approximately 186—resign annually, often due to a typical salary of £28,000 and high stress levels. As a result, only about 140 net new examiners have been added, reaching just one-third of the goal.
Richard Holden, shadow transport minister, stated: “Labour’s handling of driving tests is a failure so spectacular it takes genuine effort to achieve. People desperate to drive are stuck paying for lessons they don’t need, watching their insurance bills climb, waiting months for a test slot that never materialises with waiting times having increased by a month since the General Election. Nothing could be more symptomatic of Labour’s contempt for young people and a practical example of their war on drivers that they’re so abjectly failing to allow people to take a test to get people behind the wheel.”
Rising Waiting Times
Last year’s 22-week average wait compares sharply to five weeks in February 2020, per National Audit Office data.
Calls for Improvement
The AA notes that the applicant drop-out rate appears excessively high and urges the DVSA to accelerate the process. Emma Bush, managing director of AA driving school, commented: “While not everyone who applies for the role will be suitable and some level of drop-out rate is to be expected, this does seem high. This issue must remain under scrutiny as learners still face lengthy waits to get a test—impacting their ability to access work, education and facilitate their social lives and caring responsibilities.”
