The UK Government has announced plans to slash the cost of applying for a UK driving licence with first licences costing £16 and renewals down by £6. The cost of applying for your first UK driving licence, and renewing it at the required 10-year intervals, is set to fall by up to 32% under new Government plans.
Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Transport Minister Claire Perry announced a public consultation on driving licence fees. If the plans are approved, the new UK driving licence fee structure is set to take effect by October 31 this year.
The plans set out recommended decrease in driving licence fees of 32% for those applying online and 15% for motorists making paper applications. That means first time online applicants will only pay £34 for their new licence rather than the current £50, a drop of £16.
Anyone extending their licence online would pay £14 instead of the current £20, a £6 saving and driver tachograph card would fall from £38 to £32. Transport Minister Claire Perry said, “The cost of driving can be significant, especially for new drivers.” She added, “I’m pleased to say that we are planning to save drivers £18m a year by cutting licence fees, thanks to the DVLA making significant savings to their running costs.”
The DVLA is reviewing its whole fee structure at the moment and this consultation is only the first phase. The reason for these cuts is new digital technology which makes it cheaper for the DVLA to deliver its services. There is no doubt that we will see further savings on fees in the future due to new technology being utilised by DVLA.
