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The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA; cy, Asiantaeth Trwyddedu Gyrwyr a Cherbydau) is the
organisation An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose. The word is derived from ...
of the
UK government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...
responsible for maintaining a
database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases sp ...
of drivers in
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
and a database of vehicles for the entire
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
. Its counterpart for drivers in
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
is the
Driver and Vehicle Agency The Driver and Vehicle Agency (DVA) ( ga, An Ghníomhaireacht Tiománaithe agus Feithiclí) is a government agency of the Department for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland. The agency is responsible for conducting vehicle testing, driver testi ...
(DVA). The agency issues
driving licences A driver's license is a legal authorization, or the official document confirming such an authorization, for a specific individual to operate one or more types of motorized vehicles—such as motorcycles, cars, trucks, or buses—on a public ...
, organises collection of
vehicle excise duty Vehicle Excise Duty (VED; also known as "vehicle tax", "car tax", and more controversially as "road tax", and formerly as a "tax disc") is an annual tax that is levied as an excise duty and which must be paid for most types of powered vehicles which ...
(also known as ''
road tax Road tax, known by various names around the world, is a tax which has to be paid on, or included with, a motorised vehicle to use it on a public road. National implementations Australia All states and territories require an annual vehicle registra ...
'' and ''road fund licence'') and sells personalised registrations. The DVLA is an
executive agency An executive agency is a part of a government department that is treated as managerially and budgetarily separate, to carry out some part of the executive functions of the United Kingdom government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government or Nort ...
of the
Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The d ...
(DfT). The current Chief Executive of the agency is Julie Lennard. The DVLA is based in
Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...
,
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
, with a prominent 16-storey building in
Clase Clase is a suburban district of the City and County of Swansea, Wales within the Mynydd-Bach ward. Clase approximates to the housing area south of Clasemont Road between Morriston and Llangyfelach. History Clasemont was the home and therefore t ...
and offices in Swansea Vale. It was previously known as the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Centre (DVLC). The agency previously had a network of 39 offices around Great Britain, known as the Local Office Network, where users could attend to apply for licences and transact other business, but throughout the course of 2013, the local offices were gradually closed down, and all had been closed by December 2013. The agency's work is consequently fully centralised in Swansea, with the majority of users having to transact remotely - by post or (for some transactions) by phone. DVLA introduced Electronic Vehicle Licensing (EVL) in 2004, allowing customers to pay vehicle excise duty online and by telephone. However, customers still have the option to tax their vehicles via the
Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...
. A seven-year contract enabling the Post Office to continue to process car tax applications was agreed in November 2012, with the option of a three-year extension.


History

Originally, vehicle registration was the responsibility of Borough and County councils throughout Great Britain, a system created by the
Motor Car Act 1903 The Motor Car Act 1903 (3 Edw.7, c. 36) was an Act of the United Kingdom Parliament that received royal assent on 14 August 1903, which introduced motor vehicle registration, driver licensing and increased the speed limit. Context The Act followe ...
. In 1965 a centralised licensing system was set up at a new Swansea Driver and Vehicle Licensing Centre (DVLC), taking over licences issued from County/Borough councils A new purpose built centre was then built on the site of the old Clase Farm on Longview Road, Swansea in 1969 In April 1990, the DVLC was renamed as the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), becoming an executive agency of Department for Transport.


British Forces Germany civilian vehicles

Civilian vehicles used in
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
by members of British Forces Germany or their families are registered with the DVLA on behalf of the
Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
.


Diplomatic and consular vehicles

Official diplomatic and consular vehicles are registered with the DVLA on behalf of the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ministries of fore ...
.


DVLA database

The
vehicle register The Vehicle register in the United Kingdom is a database of motor vehicles. It is a legal requirement in the UK for most types of motor vehicle to be registered if they are to be used on the public road. All new and imported vehicles are required ...
held by DVLA is used in many ways. For example, by the DVLA itself to identify untaxed vehicles, and by outside agencies to identify keepers of cars entering central
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
who have not paid the congestion charge, or who exceed speed limits on a road that has
speed camera In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a scalar quantit ...
s by matching the cars to their keepers utilising the DVLA database. The current DVLA vehicle register was built by EDS under a £5 million contract signed in 1996, with a planned implementation date in October 1998, though actual implementation was delayed by a year. It uses a client–server architecture and uses the
vehicle identification number A vehicle identification number (VIN) (also called a chassis number or frame number) is a unique code, including a serial number, used by the automotive industry to identify individual motor vehicles, towed vehicles, motorcycles, scooters ...
, rather than the
registration plate A vehicle registration plate, also known as a number plate (British English), license plate (American English), or licence plate ( Canadian English), is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identificat ...
, as the primary key to track vehicles, eliminating the possibility of having multiple registrations for a single vehicle. The
Vehicle Identity Check The Vehicle Identity Check (VIC) was a regulation concerning car ownership that was in force in the UK between 2003 and 2015. The VIC was introduced on 7 April 2003 and was created to prevent the illegal practice of VIN cloning, vehicle cloning a ...
(VIC) was introduced to help reduce vehicle crime. It was intended to deter criminals from disguising stolen cars with the identity of written off or scrapped vehicles, however this scheme was abandoned in October 2015. Under the scheme, when an insurance company wrote off a car it would notify the DVLA. This notification would set a "VIC marker" on the vehicle record on the DVLA database. An identity check might then be required before the vehicle tax could be renewed or before any amendments could be made to the logbook. DVLA database records are used by commercial vehicle check companies to offer a comprehensive individual car check to prospective purchasers. However, the accuracy of the data held remains a continuing problem. Anyone can request information from the database if they purport to have just cause to need it, for a fee of £2.50. The database of drivers, developed in the late 1980s, holds details of some 42 million driving licence holders in the UK. It is used to produce driving licences and to assist bodies such as the
Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is an executive agency of the United Kingdom, UK Department for Transport (DfT). It carries out driving tests, approves people to be driving instructors and MOT testers, carries out tests to make ...
, police and courts in the enforcement of legislation concerning driving entitlements and road safety. The DVLA revealed in December 2012 that it had temporarily banned 294 public bodies, including local councils and police forces, for not using their access to the database correctly between 2006 and 2012. A further 38 bodies were banned permanently during the period.


Financial information

Between 2002 and 2015 it is estimated that the DVLA spent £500 million on
information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system (I ...
from IBM.


Employment

Staff of the DVLA are predominantly female whereas other parts of the
Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The d ...
are predominantly male. Starting salaries as of 2008 were just over £12,500. In November 2007, a Public Accounts Committee report criticised the "amazingly high" levels of
sick leave Sick leave (or paid sick days or sick pay) is paid time off from work that workers can use to stay home to address their health needs without losing pay. It differs from paid vacation time or time off work to deal with personal matters, because sic ...
among staff at the DVLA, where employees took an average of three weeks per year of sick leave. The report said that overall sickness leave at the DfT and its seven agencies averaged 10.4 working days per full-time employee in 2005, which they calculated as costing taxpayers £24 million. While sick leave rates at the department itself and four of its agencies were below average—at the DVLA and DSA, which together employ more than 50% of all DfT staff—they were "significantly higher". Committee chairman
Edward Leigh Sir Edward Julian Egerton Leigh (born 20 July 1950) is a British Conservative Party politician who has served as a Member of Parliament (MP) since 1983. Leigh has represented Gainsborough, Lincolnshire in the House of Commons since 1983 (re ...
said it was surprising the agencies could "function adequately". In 2008 DVLA staff went on a one-day strike over pay inequality arguing that they should receive similar salaries to other employees of the Department for Transport. The most recent level of sickness absence for 2012/13 was 6.7 days.


Controversies


Missing documents

In 2006, 120,000 to 130,000
vehicle registration certificate A vehicle registration certificate is an official document providing proof of registration of a vehicle. It is used primarily by governments as a means of ensuring that all road vehicles are on the national vehicle register, but is also used as a ...
s went missing. A BBC investigation in 2010 found that vehicles worth £13 million had been stolen using the documents in the 18 months preceding the investigation. Around ten cars are found each week to have forged log books and police said it would be decades before they were all recovered.


DVLA letter bombs

On 7 February 2007, a
letter bomb A letter bomb, also called parcel bomb, mail bomb, package bomb, note bomb, message bomb, gift bomb, present bomb, delivery bomb, surprise bomb, postal bomb, or post bomb, is an explosive device sent via the postal service, and designed with t ...
was sent to the DVLA in Swansea and injured four people. It is suspected that this is part of a group of letter bombs sent to other organisations that deal with the administration of motoring charges and offences, such as
Capita Capita plc, commonly known as Capita, is an international business process outsourcing and professional services company headquartered in London. It is the largest business process outsourcing and professional services company in the United K ...
in central London, which was targeted a few days earlier. Miles Cooper, aged 27, a school caretaker, was arrested on 19 February 2007, and charged on 22 February. The DVLA have since installed
X-ray An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10  picometers to 10  nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...
machines in all post opening areas to reduce the effectiveness of any further attacks.


Wrong confidential records on surveys

In December 2007, it was revealed that while sending out surveys to 1,215 drivers, the DVLA sent out confidential details, but to the wrong owners. The error occurred during the sending out of routine surveys, and was not discovered until members of the public contacted the DVLA to notify them of the error.


Lost entitlements

In 2009 BBC's ''
Watchdog Watchdog or watch dog may refer to: Animals *Guard dog, a dog that barks to alert its owners of an intruder's presence * Portuguese Watch Dog, Cão de Castro Laboreiro, a dog breed * Moscow Watchdog, a breed of dog that was bred in the Soviet ...
'' reported that entitlements, specifically the entitlement to drive a motorcycle, were being lost from reissued driving licences. In 2005 the same programme highlighted drivers who had lost entitlements to drive heavy goods vehicles in a similar way.


Sale of details

In 2010 it was revealed that the DVLA had sold drivers' details from the database to certain private parking enforcement companies run by individuals with criminal records. The DVLA sells details to companies for £2.50, but it was found that the agency had sold some of these to a business which had been fined weeks before for unfair business practices.


Complaints resolution

The DVLA handled 12,775 complaints in the year 2015/16, of which it failed to resolve 14.9% at first contact. Overall complaints for that year were down by 6.5%. The DVLA 'customer service excellence standard' was retained. No details were provided on how this was measured. Customer satisfaction levels varied between 76% to 97% in the four categories surveyed; vehicle registration, driver licence renewal, vehicle taxation, driver medical transactions. No data was provided in respect of complaints about the SORN scheme or other fines levied.DVLA annual report and accounts 2015-2016


In popular culture

The DVLC in Swansea is regularly referred to in the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
political
sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
''
Yes, Minister ''Yes Minister'' is a British political satire sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn. Comprising three seven-episode series, it was first transmitted on BBC2 from 1980 to 1984. A sequel, ''Yes, Prime Minister'', ran for 16 episodes fr ...
''.
Bernard Woolley Sir Bernard Woolley, GCB, MA (Oxon) is one of the three main fictional characters of the 1980s British sitcom ''Yes Minister'' and its sequel, ''Yes, Prime Minister''. He was portrayed originally by Derek Fowlds, with Chris Larkin taking on t ...
is regularly threatened with reassignment there. In the episode "Big Brother",
Jim Hacker James George Hacker, Baron Hacker of Islington, , BSc ( Lond.), Hon. D. Phil (Oxon.) is a fictional character in the 1980s British sitcom ''Yes Minister'' and its sequel, ''Yes, Prime Minister''. He is the Minister of the (fictional) Departmen ...
is scheduled to give an address there.


References


External links

* {{Authority control 1965 establishments in the United Kingdom Databases in the United Kingdom Department for Transport Driving in the United Kingdom Executive agencies of the United Kingdom government Government agencies established in 1965 Motor vehicle registration agencies Organisations based in Swansea Road transport in the United Kingdom