Driving Licences: Applications
(asked on 4th December 2025) - View Source
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average processing time was for driving licence applications in (a) November 2025 and (b) each month since July 2024.
The tables below show the average number of working days taken to process driving licence applications made both online and not online for both group 1 (cars and motorcycle) and group 2 (lorry and bus) licences.
| Group 1 | Group 2 | ||
Date | Online applications | Non- online applications | Online applications | Non-online applications |
Jul 2024 | 1.16 | 5.34 | 1.00 | 2.91 |
Aug 2024 | 1.22 | 5.50 | 1.00 | 2.16 |
Sept 2024 | 1.22 | 5.45 | 1.01 | 1.88 |
Oct 2024 | 1.20 | 4.84 | 1.06 | 1.71 |
Nov 2024 | 1.19 | 4.11 | 1.00 | 1.69 |
Dec 2024 | 1.21 | 2.87 | 1.05 | 1.80 |
Jan 2025 | 1.21 | 3.51 | 1.00 | 2.39 |
Feb 2025 | 1.21 | 4.08 | 1.00 | 1.64 |
Mar 2025 | 1.20 | 4.18 | 1.00 | 1.56 |
Apr 2025 | 1.18 | 4.09 | 1.04 | 1.71 |
May 2025 | 1.20 | 4.75 | 1.00 | 2.67 |
Jun 2025 | 1.27 | 5.77 | 1.01 | 2.82 |
Jul 2025 | 1.23 | 5.26 | 1.00 | 2.30 |
Aug 2025 | 1.23 | 5.06 | 1.00 | 2.93 |
Sept 2025 | 1.23 | 4.78 | 1.00 | 3.37 |
Oct 2025 | 1.36 | 5.28 | 1.00 | 2.58 |
Nov 2025 | 1.34 | 4.24 | 1.00 | 2.26 |
Driving licence applications where a medical condition(s) must be investigated before a licence can be issued can take longer as the DVLA is often reliant on information from third parties, including medical professionals, before a licence can be issued.
The DVLA is currently rolling out a new casework system which is expected to deliver significant improvements to the services provided to drivers with medical conditions. When fully implemented, this will provide improved turnaround times, increased capacity, increased automation, higher levels of digital functionality and increased digital communication. The DVLA is also planning to launch a new medical services platform which will enable more customers to transact online and will increase the use of email communication.