Newslink August

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DVLA woes are contributing
to more licence backlogs
Colin Lilly
Editor, Newslink
It may be a little early to think in terms
of ‘post-Covid’, but as the lockdowns and
other restrictions have eased a range of
other problems have arisen – driver
shortages, driving test waiting lists and
driving lesson availability.
Although driving school business is at
levels across the board not seen for
many years, the public find many of
these aspects frustrating.
At the centre of the issues affecting
drivers is the Driving and Vehicle
Licensing Agency (DVLA). They have
already been the subject the Transport
Select Committee evidence gathering on
two occasions this year. In January the
committee asked for information on
DVLA’s Covid-19 procedures, which led
to the biggest Covid outbreak of any
workplace. There have been, to date,
643 positive cases and one death among
the workforce at DVLA Swansea.
On the second occasion, in mid-July,
the committee were enquiring into the
backlog of applications at the establishment.
The first to give evidence were
representatives of Public and Commercial
Services (PCS) Union. Mark Serwotka,
General Secretary PCS Union, a position
he has held for 21 years, and Sarah
Evans, Branch Chair of CPS Union at
DVLA in Swansea, put much of the
problem down to the low level of home
working in the agency. Compared to
other government agencies and
departments, DVLA fared poorly in this
regard. As an example, HMRC switched
90 per cent of its workforce to home
working, and many other government
departments achieved similarly high
levels, but DVLA insisted the majority of
staff stayed working in the office. With a
policy of social distancing in the office
this has caused a gradual increase in the
backlog.
The union contends that in the Drivers
Medical area, 95 per cent of staff could
work at home. The DVLA said the
question of confidentiality was at the
core, despite the fact that the information
is available to doctors, nurses and others
in medical organisations. The union
asserted that the DVLA did not trust their
staff to work effectively from home,
which has damaged organisational
morale.
The union began industrial action in
mid-April which added to problems, but
by June 1 the union made an
‘agreement’ with local managers which
would have ended the dispute. However,
the minister refused to sign-off the
agreement and the dispute continues.
The current policy has meant that
those isolating because of contact with a
Covid case were not able to work at
home, thus reducing the efficiency of the
process.
After the union presented their
evidence, Baroness Vere, Minister for
Roads, Buses and Places, Department
for Transport appeared before the
committee, along with Julie Lennard,
Chief Executive DVLA, appearing
virtually.
They said that much of the delay was
due to the high volume of postal items,
around 60,000 items a day. To help,
they have 500 staff working each
weekend to reduce the backlog. There
remains a backlog of 1.4 million cases
spread over various licence application
issues.
While the majority of DVLA business is
conducted online, (77 per cent of licence
transactions are dealt with digitally)
much of the business cannot be handled
in that way, they said.
I can personally vouch for the fact that
the online system could be improved. My
driving licence needed to be updated last
November but was extended by 11
months. I decided that, with all the
stories of delays in handling applications,
not to wait until the last moment and so
renewed back in April.
It was suggested I could apply online
so that is what I attempted to do. I went
through the questions which were
answered as per my last licence except a
new question – ‘How long had I lived at
my current address?’.
Continued on page 6
CONTACT
To comment on this article or any other
issue surrounding driver training and
testing, contact Colin via
editor@msagb.com
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COVER STORY
Plans to change the B+E
licence regime has created
a huge row, with trainers
up in arms amid claims the
proposals will damage road
safety.
Pg 6, and from pg 10
NEWSLINK n AUGUST 2021
03