Driving Tests: Recruitment

Department for Transport written question – answered at on 20 April 2026.

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Photo of Richard Holden Richard Holden Shadow Secretary of State for Transport

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many full-time equivalent driving examiners recruited by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency were (a) in post and (b) delivering practical car driving tests in each month since February 2026 up to and including the most recent month for which figures are available.

Photo of Richard Holden Richard Holden Shadow Secretary of State for Transport

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average waiting time for a practical car driving test was in each month since January 2026 up to and including the most recent month for which figures are available.

Photo of Richard Holden Richard Holden Shadow Secretary of State for Transport

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many driving test centres recorded the maximum waiting time of 24 weeks for a practical car test for each month since January 2026.

Photo of Simon Lightwood Simon Lightwood Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The table below shows how many driving test centres (DTC) recorded a waiting time of 24 weeks for a practical car driving test for January, February, and March 2026.

Month

Number of DTCs with a wait time of 24 weeks

January 2026

157

February 2026

186

March 2026

192

The table below shows how many full-time equivalent (FTE) driving examiners (DE) were in post, and out of those, how many were available to deliver practical car driving tests in March 2026. The answer to Question 122532, 20 March 2026, provides data for February 2026.

FTE DEs in post *

Available to deliver practical car driving tests

1649.13

1,604

* Includes those who are in training to be a DE

The national average waiting time (when a minimum of 10% of test slots are available) and the national median waiting time (the time between the first test booking and test taken) for a practical car driving test in January, February and March 2026 is shown in the table below.

Month

National average car driving tests waiting time (when a minimum of 10% of test slots are available)

National median waiting time (the time between the first test booking and test taken)

January 2026

21.2 weeks

10.3 weeks

February 2026

21.6 weeks

10.6 weeks

March 2026

22.1 weeks

9.0 weeks

The recent small increase in the national average waiting time was expected, and reflects test bookings running through the summer period, the busiest of the year, and a period of increased annual leave.

April’s data for all of the above will be available in May.

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