Corporate report

DVLA business plan 2025 to 2026

Published 9 March 2026

Foreword from Chief Executive

I’m excited to present DVLA’s business plan for 2025 to 2026, my first since joining the agency earlier this year. This business plan seeks to build on our strong foundations while embracing change and innovation to meet the evolving needs of our customers.

Over the course of my first months in post, I’ve seen daily examples of the vital role we play in supporting the UK’s road transport system, providing an essential service to the 53 million drivers and 47 million vehicle keepers on our roads. In the past year, we processed almost 100 million customer transactions, with 84% of these through digital channels, highlighting why digital transformation remains at the forefront of our strategic aims. We are dedicated to enhancing our digital services, making them more accessible, efficient and user-friendly.

Beyond our roads, the data we hold continues to be an invaluable source of information used by local authorities, the police, our industry partners and numerous government departments to support them in their day-to-day operations. We remain committed to sharing our data safely and securely, helping improve services and bringing benefits to the public and wider government.

Our strategic aims for 2025 to 2026 are to:

• deliver great customer service

• drive up digital

• be resilient

• develop our skilled, motivated and flexible workforce

This year, we’ll complete the transition of our medical services from its existing legacy system to a modern customer relationship platform. We’ll also introduce new features to the Driver and vehicles account, including digital reminders for 10-year driving licence renewals and the ability to exchange a driving licence. Reflecting our commitment to being a truly digital organisation, this year will also see us work closely with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) on the development of the GOV.UK Wallet, enabling the introduction of a digital version of the driving licence.

I’m proud to lead DVLA at what is an incredibly exciting time for the agency, with an ambitious strategic plan due to be published in the coming months. I look forward to working with our dedicated and hardworking colleagues to achieve the aims set out in this business plan over the coming year. Our commitment to innovation, resilience and customer satisfaction will continue to guide us as we strive to make our services better for every customer.

Tim Moss CBE, DVLA Chief Executive and Accounting Officer

May 2025

1. Introduction

Who we are

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is a forward-thinking, award-winning executive agency under the Department for Transport (DfT), with sites in Swansea and Birmingham.

We play an essential role in the UK’s road transport system, ensuring the safe and legal operation of vehicles and drivers across the country. Our mission is to maintain accurate and secure records for over 53 million drivers and 47 million vehicles, while providing essential services that support millions of customers, businesses and stakeholders.

As one of the most innovative digital organisations in government, we pride ourselves on our IT and digital expertise. We are committed to transforming services to meet the demands of a digital-first society and supporting the UK’s sustainability goals.

What we do

DVLA is responsible for delivering a wide range of services, including issuing driving licences, registering vehicles, collecting Vehicle Excise Duty (vehicle tax), and supporting law enforcement. We manage one of the largest and most efficient driver and vehicle databases, ensuring compliance with legal requirements and helping protect the public from uninsured vehicles and drivers.

Our digital-first approach enables millions of customers to interact with us easily and efficiently online - from taxing a vehicle to updating personal information or registering new and imported vehicles. We work closely with a diverse range of stakeholders, including industry partners, charities, the police, medical professionals and other government departments, to create services that are accessible, secure and effective.

As we continue to innovate, our focus is on enhancing customer experience, improving operational efficiencies and productivity, and contributing to a safer, greener and more connected road network for the future.

2. Plans for 2025 to 2026

Strategic aims for 2025 to 2026

Our strategic aims for this year are to:

• deliver great customer service

• drive up digital

• be resilient

• develop our skilled, motivated and flexible workforce

DVLA measure 2025 to 2026
1. To deliver great customer service We aim to serve the public and our stakeholders through high quality, efficient customer service. To do this:	Target
1.1 We will dispatch applications made online for a: • driving licence in 3 working days • vehicle registration certificate in 3 working days • tachograph in 3 working days	95%
1.2 We will dispatch applications made by post for a: • driving licence in 10 working days • vehicle registration certificate in 10 working days • tachograph in 10 working days • vocational licence in 10 working days	90%
1.3 The average time to make a licensing decision on medical cases will be within:	50 working days
1.4 We will retain the Customer Service Excellence Standard.	Retain standard
1.5 We will retain the Customer Contact Association Global Standard 8.	Retain standard
1.6 We will ensure the number of customer complaints that the Independent Complaints Advisor (ICA) fully uphold is under 5% of overall ICA case referrals.	March 2026

DVLA measure 2025 to 2026
2. To drive up digital Our strategic aim is to drive up digital take-up by providing better and simpler services, making it easier for customers to transact with us and to stay legal on the roads. To do this:	Target
2.1 We will launch a new service allowing customers to sign up for digital reminders for their 10-year driving licence renewal through the DVLA Driver and vehicles account.	November 2025
2.2 We will introduce a new service allowing customers to apply to exchange their driving licence through the DVLA Driver and vehicles account.	December 2025
2.3 We will develop functionality to enable customers to download digital driving licence information from the DVLA Driver and vehicles account to the Government Digital Wallet.	Subject to DSIT development timescales
2.4 We will exceed our total transactions processed through our digital channels.	84%

DVLA measure 2025 to 2026
3. To be resilient A key aim, which underpins everything we do, will be to maintain and improve the resilience of our services, systems and infrastructure. To do this:	Target
3.1 We will develop an Operational Resilience policy and strategy that will integrate decision making, improve information management and increase collaboration.	December 2025
3.2 We will increase the number of zero emission vehicles (ZEV) to the business fleet from 20% to 40% in line with government fleet commitment.	August 2025
3.3 We will deliver financial performance in line with the agreed DfT forecast accuracy target against the Supplementary Estimate forecast.	March 2026
3.4 We will provide planned customer IT service availability of: • vehicle tax • vehicle management • personalised registration • driver licensing online services	99.5%
3.5 We will deliver the public body recommendations to the scope and timescales agreed with DfT.	March 2026
3.6 We will complete the migration of all digital driver licensing services from our legacy digital platform and onto our new strategic cloud platform, and decommission all driver licensing services from the legacy platform.	March 2026

DVLA measure 2025 to 2026
4. To develop our skilled, motivated, and flexible workforce Our people remain pivotal to our success. We are proud of the commitment and flexibility our people already demonstrate. To do this:	Target
4.1 In line with the Talent Management Strategy our focus will be on attracting, developing, and retaining talent. The workforce planning strategy will provide data insight to determine future demand and gaps in the workforce.	March 2026
4.2 We will maximise the use of both English and Welsh apprenticeships and aim to have a minimum of 110 apprentices. Working with suppliers we will offer bespoke apprenticeships aligning to public sector organisations including customer services, digital skills and business administration.	March 2026
4.3 We will continue the investment in our Talent Pipeline, with annual intakes to support 30 concurrent learners across our development programmes, developing skills in a number of digital professions in areas such as: • Year in Industry • Software Engineering • Cloud Engineering • Ethical Hacking • Software Development Engineering in Test • Business Analysis	March 2026
4.4 We will strengthen our use of DVLA Enable and Life Choices schemes to provide opportunities to people who face barriers in employment.	March 2026
4.5 Following the completion of One Big Thing – ‘Innovation – One Big Thing starts with One Small Change’ we will start to introduce the priority change initiatives identified.	December 2025
4.6 Building a culture of continuous learning, physical and mental wellbeing and engagement. We will focus on mental health and wellness programmes, ensuring our strategy clearly supports a culture of diversity, inclusion and fairness for all.	March 2026

We are also committed to supporting the following DfT commitments:

Plans
DVLA will continue to support driving licence exchange agreements. We will work with the Home Office towards a solution on delivering UK-EU Trade and Co-Operation Agreement (TCA) mutual legal assistance, to share vehicle keeper data.
DVLA will support the Automated Vehicle Act Implementation Programme and will work to identify and plan for future activities for operational delivery of the AV Framework.
DVLA will continue to provide support for the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) plug-in and ChargePoint grants, including exploring additional scope changes. We will also continue to provide DfT with registration data under Vehicle Emissions Trading Schemes Regulation.

To deliver great customer service

We aim to serve the public and our stakeholders through high quality, efficient customer service.

Our goal is to make our services easy, quick, and customer focused. We will engage directly with customers and stakeholders through research and feedback to design services that meet their needs. This includes both qualitative and quantitative methods to ensure we’re user focused in our approach.

We are committed to using research insights to improve services and develop new ones. We’ll ensure that research insights and design principles are representative of our customer views and experiences in support of ongoing service improvements and the development of new services.

Our online services will remain quick and simple, processing driving licence, vehicle registration, and tachograph applications in 3 working days and we’re committed to retaining our postal timescales this year by issuing them within 10 working days of receipt.

We will maintain our collaboration with medical professionals for driving licence assessments. Once all necessary information is received, we will make a licensing decision that carefully balances our customers’ need for quick decisions with wider road safety considerations.

This year will see DVLA complete the transition of its medical services away from its legacy casework system to a modern customer relationship management platform (CRM).

This work will culminate in the development of a new portal for customers to digitally renew and notify DVLA of changes in their medical condition and be kept up to date on the status of the application.

Our multi-channel contact centre continues to deliver high quality service, maintaining its CSE accreditation and CCA Global standards for the 17th consecutive year.

We ensure that the percentage of customer complaints fully upheld by the Independent Complaints Advisor (ICA) remains below 5% of all ICA case referrals by consistently applying the UK Central Government Complaint Standards, created by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO).

Corporate customers

A key focus for us is to understand the goals and challenges our corporate partners face, ensuring we’re working together to reach our common goals.

Our stakeholders hail from a range of sectors, including trade associations, motoring organisations and clubs, enforcement bodies such as police and the courts, medical charities and other government departments. The Corporate Services team seeks to build relationships with these organisations, acting as a liaison point and information exchange between the agency and the organisations. This is enabled through regular forums, monthly update meetings and attending and presenting at industry related events.

We continue to keep these organisations updated on government policy changes and internal process amendments through our corporate newsletter, and we identify areas for improvement through regular feedback questionnaires. We facilitate the assistance of stakeholders in providing insight into proposed service changes, which ensures that the services that we provide are relevant and appropriate for the intended audience.

To drive up digital

Our strategic aim is to drive up digital take-up by providing better and simpler services, making it easier for customers to transact with us and to stay legal on the roads.

We are committed to enhancing our digital services and transforming how customers access DVLA services. This year, we will continue to develop and improve these services, increasing customer choice and making it simpler for our customers to interact with us.

The DVLA Driver and vehicles account provides an easy, personalised way for customers to engage with us. With over 4 million motorists signed up for the account since its launch, the account is growing, and user feedback guides our future developments. It’s a key part of our vision for a seamless 360-degree digital experience.

We will enhance the account by adding additional, transformed digital services. During 2025 to 2026, this will include the ability to replace a lost driving licence, change address, exchange a paper driving licence to a photocard, and renew a driving licence at age 70. We will also add further features to the account, such as allowing customers to sign up for digital reminders for their 10-year driving licence renewals, while allowing customers the choice to opt out of paper reminders. These new services will save customers time, reduce paperwork and contribute to a more sustainable future.

In addition, we will also integrate the DVLA Driver and vehicles account with the GOV.UK One Login service during 2025 to 2026, which will allow even more of DVLA’s customers to successfully prove their identity online. This will make it even easier for customers to use our suite of digital services and take advantage of the added value offered by the account, while also supporting wider government initiatives aimed at improving digital access and service delivery across public sectors.

With 84% of DVLA transactions now being completed via our digital services, we’re modernising and streamlining our services for greater productivity and efficiency. The introduction of a digital driving licence in addition to a photocard, supports our commitment to sustainability, offering a greener, more secure, and user-friendly service for our customers.

We will collaborate with our colleagues in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and Government Digital Services (GDS) on the GOV.UK Wallet, enabling users to store and share government documents securely. The account will integrate with GOV.UK One Login for easier access to government services. Driving licence holders will be given the option to use a digital version of their driving licence from their phone to easily prove their right to drive and will be used just as physical documents are, if customers choose to.

To be resilient

A key aim, which underpins everything we do, will be to maintain and improve the resilience of our services, systems and infrastructure.

A key focus of our strategy is ensuring the resilience and cyber security of our services and IT infrastructure. DVLA has made significant progress in adopting agile, scalable, and flexible technologies, enabling faster development of modern services on a stable and secure platform.

This business plan outlines the migration of our digital driving licence services to a new cloud platform. Once the migration is finished, we will begin decommissioning the legacy driving licence services platform, marking a significant milestone in our technology strategy.

Business continuity and operational resilience

The resilience of our people, infrastructure, information technology, data and supply chain ensure that DVLA can continue to deliver its key services during a disruption.

This business plan outlines the migration away from paper-based business continuity plans and processes to a new intelligent digital platform. Once fully integrated, the system will provide the best planning assumptions, producing well informed response and recovery strategies, to develop integrated contingency plans. A continuous improvement milestone this year will be to modernise the emergency communication processes relied on during emergencies and incidents.

Public body review

An independent review assessing the governance, accountability and efficiency of DVLA and its capacity and capability to deliver high quality services to customers whilst delivering value for money for the taxpayer was published in 2024.

The review concluded DVLA’s work underpins the safe transportation of people and goods around the UK, contributing to multiple strategic priorities across government through its lesser-known responsibilities and that DVLA is expert in delivering a wide range of vital driver and vehicle services and should continue to deliver as an executive agency of the Department for Transport (DfT).

The review made a number of recommendations to strengthen DVLA’s ability to undertake this role, which DVLA will continue to deliver during the year to the scope and timescales agreed with DfT.

Sustainability

Greening government commitments

Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do, aligning with the Greening Government Commitments (GGC). We’re focused on reducing our environmental impact across all estates and operations.

To meet our net-zero goals, we’re reducing reliance on fossil fuels, installing clean energy sources, and transitioning our fleet to zero-emission vehicles. We also aim to lower carbon emissions from business travel and heating by using more sustainable options.

We are rising to the challenge of reducing the waste from our operational activities and across our work environment. We’ll do so by making it easier to recycle the waste we generate and explore how our driving licences can be re-purposed at the end of use.

To develop our skilled, motivated and flexible workforce

Our people remain pivotal to our success. We are proud of the commitment and flexibility our people already demonstrate.

At DVLA we know that attracting the right people, developing, retaining and being a great workplace is essential to our success. With evolving services and customer needs, we want to build an organisation that enables people to grow within their roles and fulfil their potential. DVLA is committed to enhancing our talent management strategy, including expanding apprenticeship programs via our talent pipeline to better align with the diverse needs of employees across regions. Annually, we will support learners across a wide range of development programmes, offering qualifications focused on digital skills and promoting career growth in the digital sector.

DVLA currently uses DVLA Enable, a recruitment scheme which offers opportunities to people who face barriers to employment, providing them with experience that can improve their life chances and help make the Civil Service more representative of the country it serves. DVLA is committed to strengthen employment opportunities to support the Civil Service Commissioner’s ambition to provide life chances to groups of individuals who would not normally be able to compete under fair and open competition. In offering these roles, DVLA is contributing to the broader government direction and social mobility, diversity & inclusion and building a more diverse workforce.

We’re building a culture of continuous learning, physical and mental wellbeing and engagement.

This is evident in the success of the Cabinet Office’s ‘One Big Thing’, where 82% of DVLA colleagues completed the Civil Service Learning (CSL) Innovation Masterclass e-learning course. The initiative encourages colleagues to implement small changes for improvement, fostering an environment of experimentation and learning. We will focus on mental health and wellness programmes, ensuring that our approach clearly supports a culture of diversity, inclusion and fairness for all.

Civil Service People Survey results tell us that our colleagues want to have a louder voice in decisions that affect them. We will hold listening sessions where employees can share their thoughts and opinions.

The DVLA Prevail programme aims to reduce the stigma related to mental health issues and equip employees with the knowledge and skill to support mental health in the workplace. The programme uses low intensity psychological therapies to provide interventions for individuals experiencing common mental health problems such as stress, anxiety, and depression. The programme models a collaborative approach between individuals and line managers to create a person-centred problem-solving environment for all.

We will promote a ‘speak up’ culture to allow colleagues to constructively share their views on matters that affect them. Our 2025 People Strategy has an increased focus on employee voice, inclusion, and collaboration, with an aim to offer more pulse surveys and listening sessions to enable colleagues to share what matters to them. We will continue our cultural enquiry work across the organisation which aims to identify how it feels to work in DVLA, by talking to colleagues to explore 9 themes within a business unit, sharing findings and developing recommendations.

Themes of the review include direction, accountability, coordination and control, external orientation, innovation and learning, capabilities, motivation, culture and climate and leadership. Through focus groups and surveys, Organisation Design and Development create a safe, professional, and trusted space for colleagues to have a voice and share feedback and suggestions. Findings and recommendations provide senior leadership teams with management information to inform strategic and tactical decision making.

3. Supporting the delivery of our plan

Financial

We will manage our finances effectively within the agreed funding settlement from DfT for 2025 to 2026. This settlement will allow us to commence our digital transformation programme for our vehicle services and embed our new facilities management services following the end of our 20-year private finance initiative (PFI) contract in March 2025. It will also ensure we can meet central government objectives and unlock future efficiency savings, while continuing to get the best value for money for taxpayers.

The agency’s governance arrangements reflect best practice and provide assurance that we use our resources efficiently and in accordance with HM Treasury’s requirements. We embrace Government Functional Standards to support continuous improvement within the agency and to meet our strategic priorities.

Commercial

DVLA provides commercial and procurement expertise to secure value for money from commercial arrangements and support the UK government’s National Procurement Policy by leveraging spend to support priority national and local outcomes for the public benefit. We also implement and manage contracts that facilitate the agency’s collection of Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) revenue through supporting our digital services and providing numerous payment channels for vehicle keepers. Our contracts and commercial agreements support UK businesses from small to PLC and facilitate the sale of personalised registrations.

From 2025 to 2026, we expect to award or renew around 200 commercial arrangements. In addition, our portfolio of 3,000 managed contracts for the provision of DVLA data to outside organisations and bodies continues to provide necessary controls.

In April 2025, we entered into new contracting arrangements for the provision of facilities management hard services, and vision testing services. The legislation governing commercial activity will continue to transition from the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 to the Procurement Act 2023.

Annex A: Financial statement

Financial statement	Outturn 2024 to 2025 £ million	Business plan 2025 to 2026 £ million
Statutory fee income	485	519
Commercial fee income	155	150
Other income	32	30
Total income	672	699
Staff costs	(243)	(265)
Agents’ fees	(92)	(102)
ICT charges	(56)	(67)
Accommodation	(23)	(31)
Consultancy and professional services	(10)	(10)
Postage and printing	(79)	(86)
Depreciation	(14)	(13)
Other costs	(21)	(23)
Total expenditure	(538)	(597)
Net operating surplus	134	102
Resource DEL	142	151
AME	(1)	0
Total resource and AME	141	151
Capital	18	24

Income is displayed as a positive number and expenditure as a negative (in brackets).