Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the backlog of driving licence renewal applications.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency’s (DVLA) online services are the quickest and easiest way to renew a driving licence. There are no delays in successful online applications and customers should receive their driving licence within a few days.

However, many people still choose or have to make a paper application for a driving licence. The DVLA receives around 60,000 items of mail every day which must be dealt with in person.

Currently, paper driving licence applications are likely to take between six and ten weeks to process. There may be additional delays in processing more complex transactions, for example, if medical investigations are needed. The latest information on turnaround times for paper driving licence applications can be found here.

The DVLA has introduced additional online services and recruited additional staff. The DVLA is urgently securing extra office space to house more staff to help reduce waiting times while providing future resilience and business continuity.

It is not possible to specify how many applications to renew a driving licence made following the expiry of the extension to all driving licences that was put in place last year in response to the pandemic are awaiting processing. It is important to note that the large majority of drivers awaiting the renewal of their licence will be able to continue driving while their renewal application is being processed.