COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

Over-70s drivers left waiting two months for licences to be renewed as DVLA deals with growing backlog

DVLA has not renewed driving licences for over-70s requested since November 25, amid a major backlog caused by Covid and industrial action.

Statistics released by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency on Monday reveal that pensioners are waiting 12 weeks for updates to their licences, if they applied through the post.

It is mandatory for over-70s to renew their driving licence every three years.

The same wait applies to those who have been disqualified or had their licences revoked, and there is a similar delay for licences with new photos, which is required every 10 years.

Those requesting a new licence because they have changed their name or address are waiting nine weeks, and the wait for a first provisional driving licence is ten and a half weeks.

The long delays have led to complaints against the Swansea-based agency to spiking by 40 per cent last month, according to complaints website Resolver. Half of complaints were about poor delivery, including customers not receiving their documents back having submitted them to the agency.

The breakdown in customer service comes after workers at the Welsh office went on strike, owing to a dispute over Covid safety measures. This, combined with the safety measures, added a backlog of more than 400,000 paper licence applications last year. The DVLA also had to send scores of staff on paid leave or instruct them to work from home last year after a Covid outbreak at its offices.

Martyn James, head of media at Resolver, said disgruntled drivers had contacted the site to complain that their vital identification documents were being "held hostage".

“Lots of people have found themselves stranded without permission to drive, despite having obtained medical proof that they are able to get behind the wheel”, he said.

"Almost all of the complaints relate to simply not being able to speak to someone at the DVLA or get help or information about their application.

"This is having a significant impact on their lives."

MP urges DVLA to explain why 1.1m people are awaiting licenses

Chair of the transport select committee, Huw Merriman MP, has written to the chief executive of the DVLA, Julie Lennard, to question why so many drivers are still waiting to receive their driving licences.

Responding to the latest progress update from the chief executive, the Conservative MP describes the situation for thousands of drivers as ‘urgent’, writing that drivers are waiting ‘too long’ to have their applications processed.

The chair poses seven questions to try to understand why so many applications face delay.

Although the number of paper applications awaiting processing has reduced from a peak of 1.6 million in September 2021, the number reported by the DVLA in February 2022 is 1.1 million.

More than one fifth of the 1.1 million applicants have been waiting for 10 weeks or longer.

DVLA staff off work on full pay amid application backlog crisis



Hundreds of civil servants at the DVLA have done no work on full pay for significant periods of the pandemic as managers boast of watching Netflix at the public’s expense, a Times investigation can reveal.

Most of the government agency’s 6,200 staff were sent home during the first lockdown but 3,400 of them were put on paid special leave without having to work at all, figures show.

There were still almost 2,000 staff on paid special leave months later, with no expectation that they would do any work even from home. In nine of the past 24 months there have been more than 500 staff officially not working, either on paid special leave or on strike.

An undercover Times reporter worked at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) last month as millions of drivers have been affected by record backlogs in licence applications and renewals.

Managers told of spending working days in bed watching TV box sets. Staff said they were demoralised as colleagues on paid special leave who claimed to be too vulnerable to come to the office were “not doing any work yet they are out and about mingling with others and going on holiday”.

The DVLA has been in crisis as it receives 60,000 pieces of post a day but there have not been enough civil servants on site to open and process drivers’ documents quickly enough.

Amid pressure from hardline trade unionists, limits on numbers of staff at the agency’s offices have remained in place throughout the pandemic, despite them being stricter than government and public health guidance.

Special paid leave has been granted to DVLA staff who reported health conditions that classed them as being too vulnerable to be on site, said they were isolating because of Covid contacts or had caring responsibilities, while also being unable to work from home.

Many DVLA staff have not been able to work properly, or at all, from home throughout the pandemic as they are not allowed remote access to work systems holding licence holders’ personal data.

Even those civil servants on site have had periods of only having to work either a four-day week or on a week-on, week-off rota to prevent them from “burning out”.

The backlogs at the agency have meant some people who rely on their cars for work have been unable to drive for more than a year. Lorry drivers have also been prevented from helping to deliver food and petrol during critical periods of driver shortages.

The reporter was among trainee call handlers who were instructed to mislead drivers about application delays, saying the wait was between six to ten weeks even when they knew it was likely to be longer.

In response to the Times findings, Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, ordered a “thorough investigation”, saying he was “deeply concerned” and that he “expects quick answers” from DVLA bosses.