DVLA: Some driving licence applications could see five-month wait due to Covid

Motorists who submit paper applications to renew their driver’s licences could potentially face a five-month wait to receive their documents.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) said the combination of industrial action and ongoing social distancing requirements has led to “continuing delays with paper applications”, with the agency currently processing licence renewal applications submitted 10 weeks ago on June 9.

This includes applications to change a name or address.

The agency said in a statement on its Government website that paper applications “are likely to take 6 to 10 weeks to process”, which could see those who made submissions on June 9 waiting up to five months to receive their documents.

It added: “We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused but we are working as quickly as we can to deal with your application.

“We receive around 60,000 items of mail every day that needs to be opened and processed.”

Applications for new drivers to receive their first provisional licence are facing a wait of up to 16 weeks, with the agency currently processing documents submitted on July 6.

The DVLA says there is no delay to online applications and advises customers to use its online services “where possible”.

Most motorists waiting for their applications to be processed are still allowed to drive.

The Times reports “about 1.4 million” applications are affected by the backlog.

A DVLA spokeswoman told the paper: “There are delays in processing paper applications due to industrial action and social-distancing requirements, which means that we have had fewer staff than usual on site at any one time.

“Our online services have not been impacted by the pandemic and continue to run without any delays. The majority of transactions can be done online.”

Members of the Public and Commercial Services union at the agency’s offices in Swansea have been taking industrial action over Covid-safety measures.