Government pledges to cut driving test delays

THE Government has moved its deadline to resolve the nation's driving test backlog by over half a year, blaming an influx in demand in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

- Thomas Jervis

As part of Labour's 'Plan for Change', the Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, announced measures to cut record waiting times for practical tests. These currently sit at an average of 22 weeks, up from 18 weeks when the party came to power last year.

The deadline is over half a year later than originally proposed by the DVSA. In December last year, it pledged to bring the backlog down to seven weeks by the end of 2025 - but that target could be missed by as much as seven months.

Speaking to Auto Express, a government spokesperson said: “The increase in demand we have seen since the pandemic is here to stay, so we need to change how we deliver driving tests, and that will take a bit of extra time.”