DVLA: Five Month Wait for Some Driving Licence Renewals.
Motorists who submit paper applications to renew their driver’s licence could face a five-month wait to receive their documents, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has said.
The agency said industrial action and social distancing in Swansea had led to “continuing delays”. It is now dealing with applications sent in 10 weeks ago – and they could take another 10 weeks to process.
It comes as a union ballot on more potential strikes over Covid safety.
The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) and the DVLA are currently in an industrial dispute that has seen targeted strike action since April where staff in different departments have walked out for a few days at a time.
Workers are currently being asked if they support more industrial action over Covid safety following hundreds of positive cases among its 6,000-strong workforce. A consultative ballot of PCS members opened on Wednesday and will close on 3 September.
In a statement on its website, the agency said paper applications “are likely to take 6 to 10 weeks to process”, which could see those who made submissions on 9 June 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.”
It said it receives about 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 6 July.
It said there was no delay to online applications and advised customers to use its online services “where possible”.
Most motorists waiting for their applications to be processed are still allowed to drive.
