Complaints procedure
How to make a complaint about DVLA’s service or report a data protection concern.
If you have a query or an issue that needs resolving
You should first contact the department that you’ve been dealing with as this is often the quickest and easiest way to resolve your query. To deal with your queries we’ll need to know:
- your full name and address
- your date of birth
- your driver number (for queries about your driving licence)
- your vehicle registration number, including the make and model of the vehicle (for queries about vehicle licensing, registration or enforcement)
- any reference number we’ve provided on previous correspondence
Making a formal complaint
Step 1
If you want to make a formal complaint, you can contact our complaints team telling them your concerns.
To make your complaint, contact our complaints team online or write to:
Complaints Team
DVLA
Swansea
SA6 7JL
If your complaint is about a data protection issue
If you feel DVLA has not followed data protection law in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) or Part 3 of the Data Protection Act, you can make a data protection complaint. For example, if you’re unhappy with how DVLA has dealt with or shared your personal information.
If you’re making a data protection complaint online, select the option which is most relevant to your concern. For example, if your complaint relates to personal data from your driver record, choose the option ‘make a complaint or compliment about the driver service you have received’.
Responding to your complaint
We’ll acknowledge receipt of your complaint and aim to send you a full reply within 10 working days.
When you receive a response to your complaint, you may be asked to complete a short feedback survey. This is to help us measure customer satisfaction and understand your expectations of the service provided by our complaints team.
Step 2
If you’ve contacted our complaints team and you feel that your complaint has not been resolved, you can contact our Head of Complaints.
They will make sure your case is reviewed and responded to. We aim to respond within 10 working days.
You can contact our Head of Complaints online or write to:
Head of Complaints
DVLA
Swansea
SA6 7JL
Our Head of Complaints cannot deal with general enquiries.
If you think your complaint has not been resolved
An independent review
If you think your complaint has not been resolved through our complaints team or Head of Complaints, you can ask us to refer it to an Independent Complaints Assessor (ICA).
They’ll review the way your case was handled and will expect you to have tried to resolve your complaint directly with us, in line with our complaints procedure, before they consider your complaint.
If your complaint is about a data protection issue, it cannot be referred to an ICA. Find out more information about what the ICAs cover.
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
If you are not satisfied and you’ve had your complaint investigated by the ICA, you can ask a Member of Parliament (MP) to refer your complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO).
We welcome all feedback including concerns, complaints or comments on what we’ve done well. We want to do everything we can to learn to do more of what we do well and improve where we can do better.
We aim to meet the PHSO’s UK Central Government Complaint Standards when handling complaints. These standards help us provide a quicker and simpler complaints handling service that:
- promotes a learning culture
- welcomes complaints in a positive way
- is thorough and fair
- gives fair and accountable responses
You can find out more on the PHSO website.
Data protection complaints
If you think your data protection complaint has not been resolved through our complaints team or Head of Complaints, you can refer it to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
Privacy notice
For further information about how we process your data, your rights and who to contact, see our privacy notice.
Our commitment
Customers are at the heart of our business and we are committed to providing a high quality of service to everyone. We value your feedback and are committed to act on any concerns or complaints about the service we provide.
We aim to:
- objectively investigate all complaints and put things right for you when it is possible
- learn from where we went wrong
- make sure we do not make the same mistake again