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The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is consulting on rationalising the fee levels for five transactions for Drivers.
During 2006, DVLA undertook two major consultations on fee levels for driver and vehicle transactions.In January 2007, the fee levels for all driver and vehicle fees for 2007-08 and 2008-09 were set out.
In July 2008, DVLA will start to issue driving licence renewals as part of the 10-year validity cycle to ensure the currency of images shown on photocard licences is maintained. The Road Safety Act 2006 established the powers to charge for these transactions. DVLA will start issuing reminders for those licences with a validity period due to expire early in 2008-09, and the new fees will be in place from April 2008.
Under the original fee proposals for 2008-09, there are currently two different fees applicable for routine transactions:
In order to provide clarity for customers and simpler processes for all concerned, the proposal is to move these five transactions onto a single fee level of £17.50. It is possible that there will be overlaps between paper licence transfer and loss of licence or where endorsements are removed at the same time. The current regulations stipulate that in such cases, the higher of the relevant fees would be charged. DVLA believes this could cause confusion for customers and delay transaction processing for drivers. The total impact of this concession, albeit with an increase from £10 to £17.50 for two of the transaction types, will be to reduce DVLA’s income by some £7m in 2008-09, although increases in volumes of other transactions from original estimates will make good the funding income for DVLA as a whole.
None of the other fee levels – vehicles or drivers (e.g. first driving licence applications, offender renewals or those transactions provided free of charge) are affected by this consultation.
The consultation document can be viewed at www.dvla.gov.uk/consultations
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Notes for editors:
1.DVLA is required both through its status as an Executive Agency / Trading Fund and by the HM Treasury Fees and Charges Guidance to recover the costs of its operations through fees collected for the statutory services it delivers. It has explicit statutory powers to collect each of these fees, mainly set out in the Road Traffic Act 1988, Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 and Road Safety Act 2006.
2.In July 2008, DVLA will start to renew drivers licence in respect of the 10 year cycle instigated by the introduction of the photocard licence in 1998. At this point, there are a number of transactions that may interact:
i. the 10 year renewal;
ii. loss of licence;
iii. change of details (primarily address).
This is not unlike the interactions currently in terms of:
iv. change from paper to photocard licence;
v. loss of licence;
vi. change of details (primarily address).
3. Currently the different transaction streams have different fees, reflecting both the work within the transactions and the balance of benefits for DVLA and the individual drivers in terms of incentivisation. This is becoming increasingly complex for both customers and for DVLA administratively, so is moving in quite an opposite direction to that desirable for introducing and encouraging electronic services. Hence, the proposals to replace the current fee structures (the status quo) with a more common fee set, with simple rules – although we still wish to retain free licence issue for key details changes.
4.One of the consequences of the complications above is that it may not be clear to customers which of the fees they should pay if more than one of the transactions coincides. That is precisely why we believe that simplification of the fees structure will help all concerned.
Any enquiries on this consultation should be referred to:
DVLA Press Office
01792 782318