How do employers do a DVLA licence check, and how often?

Any employer whose staff drive for work, including drivers of company vehicles and staff using their own cars (grey fleet). A check confirms the categories the person can drive and shows penalty points and disqualifications. You need the driver’s permission; DVLA warns it is a criminal offence to obtain someone’s personal information without it.

• Nothing expires in law, but a check that is a year or more old says little about today: points and disqualifications can change at any time.
• If a driver turns out to be disqualified or uninsured, the employer has to be able to show what checks it made and when.

1. 1

   Ask the driver for a check code

   The driver generates it with DVLA’s view-your-licence service and shares it with the last 8 characters of their licence number.

2. 2

   Run the check within 21 days

   Use DVLA’s check-driving-information service. The code works once.

3. 3

   Record the result

   Note categories, points, any endorsements and the date of the check, and act on anything your policy flags.

4. 4

   Set the next check

   Schedule the next check by risk: for example 12 months as a baseline, sooner for drivers with points.

A simple reminder plan: 30 days, 14 days, 7 days before the re-check date. The calculator above puts these in your calendar.

• Date of every check and who ran it.
• The result: categories, points, disqualifications.
• The driver’s consent.

• Checking once at hiring and never again.
• Asking for the code too early, so it expires before the check.
• Not including grey-fleet drivers using their own cars.