---

Driving Tests: Recruitment

Answer

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) continues driving examiner (DE) recruitment across the country to provide as many tests as possible; a full-time DE can be expected to add approximately 1,200 tests per year to the booking system.

The table below provides updated data, where possible, for the recruitment campaigns listed in the Answer, 21 April 2026, to Question 124880.

Campaign date	Total completed applications received	No of applicants invited to interview stage	No of applicants invited to driving assessment stage after a successful interview	No of applicants recruited and placed on a training course	No of applicants that successfully passed a training course
May-23	655	432 [Note 1]	432 [Note 1]	79	62
Sep-23	1,168	718	152	53	40
Feb-24	2,629	1,578	273	79	62
Jun-24	1,816	1,207	501	175	125
Sep-24	2,248	1,460	479	191	142
Mar-25	3,865	2,388	361	110	85
Jul-25	1,182	602	267	101	77
Sep-25	2,676	1,658	380	125	85
Dec-25	3,409	1,014	504	137	44
Feb-26	1,141	777	388	55	[Note 2]

[note 1] - No of applicants invited to interview and driving assessment are the same as this was an assessment centre.

[note 2] – The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) continues to recruit from merit lists for these live recruitment campaigns. The final numbers for the recruitment campaigns shown are therefore not yet known.

For any given campaign listed, the difference between those recruited and placed on a training course, and the number of applicants that successfully passed training for that campaign, reflects the number of applicants who did not complete training, including those who failed or withdrew. As some of these campaigns are still live, and commenced less than 12 months ago, it is not possible to provide data on those who left the Agency within 12 months.

All driving examiner vacancies are publicly advertised on Civil Service Jobs. Recruitment comes out of a central budget, so total costs of each individual campaign cannot be fully derived.

The Answer, 24 February 2026, to Question 113313 shows the number of vacancies advertised for campaigns from July 2024 to December 2025. For the February 2026 campaign, 80 vacancies were advertised. All campaigns, apart from May 2023 and February 2026 campaigns, advertised for roles nationally, rather than for particular regions. The May 2023 campaign was advertised as ‘National (except London and South East England)’ and the February 2026 campaign advertised for positions in ‘Southern England, East Midlands, East Anglia & London’.

DVSA monitors the performance of recruitment campaigns, including:

• monitoring pass rates for each of the stages in the recruitment process and comparing these between campaigns
• average times between advert and job offers being made, and offers being made and start date.

In April 2026, DVSA changed the way it assesses prospective DEs. Working with the Government Recruitment Service’s (GRS) occupational psychologists, the assessment process was redesigned, introducing online tests aimed at identifying applicants with the specific skills needed to succeed, and to mitigate the use of AI within the application process.

DVSA continues to monitor the pass rates for each stage and bring in applicants as quickly as possible.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

34077

Session

2026-27

Grouped for answer

Yes

Subjects

Expenditure Driving tests Recruitment

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.parliament.uk