With many learner drivers waiting longer than we'd like to take a driving test, there's obviously a lot of interest in driving test waiting times and what we are doing to reduce them.
In the last few weeks, we have asked all eligible managers and administrative staff back on the front line to carry out driving tests full time. They’ll do this until the end of March 2024 and it will create about 150,000 extra driving tests, helping to reduce driving test waiting times.
We're often asked by learner drivers, driving instructors and the media for the latest driving test waiting time.
In this blog post, I want to explain how we work out the driving test waiting time we report on, and how it’s just part of a range of measures we look at.
What the waiting time figure means
As at 16 October 2023, the current national average car driving test waiting time is 18.8 weeks.
But to be very clear, that does not mean that every learner driver in Great Britain is going to have to wait 18.8 weeks between booking and taking their test.
As well as the national average, each driving test centre also has its own waiting time.
The figure we report is how long it is until at least 10% of the weekly appointments are still available to book.
Let's look at an example.
If we have a test centre where there are 175 tests available each week, the waiting time is the first week when 18 or more appointments are still available to book.
| Week number | Number of tests still available to book | Total number of tests in the week | Percentage of tests still available to book |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 175 | 0.0% |
| 2 | 4 | 175 | 2.3% |
| 3 | 6 | 175 | 3.4% |
| 4 | 4 | 175 | 2.3% |
| 5 | 14 | 175 | 8.0% |
| 6 | 12 | 175 | 6.9% |
| 7 | 13 | 175 | 7.4% |
| 8 | 15 | 175 | 8.6% |
| 9 | 19 | 175 | 10.9% |
In this example you can see that it's 9 weeks until 18 or more appointments are still available. So the waiting time here is 9 weeks.
But you can see that there are still 68 appointments available in the weeks before then – so many people would not be waiting 9 weeks, and some would only need to wait 2 weeks.
Why waiting times can suddenly change
The booking window for driving tests is a rolling 24 weeks. Each week, we add a new week’s worth of tests.
We also add tests as and when they become available. For example, if a driving examiner is going to transfer to another test centre in 4 weeks’ time, appointments with them are added.
Let's take that same example from before, and now add another driving examiner from week 5 onwards.
That driving examiner will do 35 tests a week when they join. So our test centre will have:
- a 175 appointment capacity each week for weeks 1 to 4
- a 210 appointment capacity each week from week 5 onwards
The waiting time is now the first week from now where either:
- 18 or more appointments are still available to book (weeks 1 to 4)
- 21 or more appointments are still available to book (week 5 onwards)
| Week number | Number of tests still available to book | Total number of tests in the week | Percentage of tests still available to book |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 175 | 0.0% |
| 2 | 4 | 175 | 2.3% |
| 3 | 6 | 175 | 3.4% |
| 4 | 4 | 175 | 2.3% |
| 5 | 49 | 210 | 23.3% |
| 6 | 47 | 210 | 22.4% |
| 7 | 48 | 210 | 22.9% |
| 8 | 50 | 210 | 23.8% |
| 9 | 54 | 210 | 25.7% |
As you can see, there are now only 5 weeks until 21 or more appointments are still available. So the waiting time has become 5 weeks.
Now these are quite simple examples, and in reality it's not quite as simple as that, as things are constantly changing. But they should give you a better insight into how driving test waiting times work.
Tracking waiting times across the country
We track the number of driving test centres that have waiting times in different bands.
For example, as at 16 October 2023 we had:
- 36 test centres with a waiting time up to 9 weeks (14.8% of all test centres)
- 103 test centres with a waiting time between 10 and 23 weeks (42.4% of all test centres)
- 104 test centres with a waiting time of 24 weeks (42.8% of all test centres)
Other measures of driving test availability
We also measure and track the percentage of all the appointments in the booking service within the next 24 weeks that are still available to book.
For example, at 24 April 2023, 5.9% of tests within the next 24 weeks were still available to book. As at 16 October 2023, that had increased to 11.5%.
Forward bookings
As you’d expect, we also track the total number of bookings. At the end of September 2023, there were 566,245 driving tests booked within the following 24 weeks.
Since November 2022, the Department for Transport has been publishing this figure on a monthly basis to help us be more transparent as part of their faster indicators of transport activity.
In the spreadsheet you can download from that page, this number is called ‘forward bookings’.
Some people assume that when that figure increases, it’s bad news for waiting times, as more people are waiting. That’s not necessarily the case.
More capacity means more forward bookings
Our priority at this time, is to reduce driving test waiting times, while upholding road safety standards.
To increase the number of available test slots we continue to:
- carry out tests outside of regular hours, including at weekends and on public holidays
- buy back annual leave from driving examiners
- invite recently retired driving examiners to return to work
Since April 2021, the measures we have put in place to reduce waiting times for our customers plus the ongoing recruitment of driving examiners is creating more than 40,000 extra car test slots each month on average.
As we recruit more driving examiners and as more eligible managers and administrative staff test full time, our capacity to provide tests increases. This means that we can fit more people in within the next 24 weeks. So a higher number of ‘forward bookings’ means our capacity has increased.
You’ll then hopefully see this in the months that follow in the number of tests that we carry out.
I hope this helps you to understand driving test waiting times a little better, and also helps you to correct any misunderstandings you encounter in the future.
About commenting on this blog post
We know that there are lots of different views about driving test waiting times.
We'll only publish new questions and comments that are about how driving test waiting times are calculated.
We cannot answer individual questions about the latest driving test waiting times. The driving test booking service will always have the latest information.
This is not about censoring your views. It’s to make sure comments keep on topic and help to answer any questions about how driving test waiting times are calculated.
