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INTRODUCTION
1. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is required to recover its
operating costs through statutory fees and wider commercial (non-statutory) charges.
The only exceptions to this relate to vehicle excise duty and personalised registrations,
which are funded centrally. We are continuing to become more efficient but also want to
focus on our customers and increase our digital services. As a result of the
improvements already made, our costs have reduced and are forecast to continue to
reduce over time. We need to ensure that we pass on reductions in costs to our
customers by reducing fees.
2. Public sector organisations normally pass on the full cost of providing a service
to each user of those services. The law allows the DVLA to set fees to cover the cost
which we incur in the course of service provision of the driver and vehicle schemes as a
whole. Some of our services attract a fee while others do not if it is beneficial to provide
them free of charge. For example, changing personal details is free as this encourages
customers to comply with the legal requirement to let us know about changes, leading to
more accurate records, which are essential to the police and other enforcement
agencies dealing with crime reduction and road safety initiatives.
3. The fees we currently charge are the same regardless of whether the
transaction is carried out online, on paper or at Post Offices. In our business plan for
2013/14, we announced that we would review our fee structure. This consultation is the
next stage of that process.
4. To reflect both the savings already made as well as those anticipated in the
future, the review of fees and the proposed changes are being split into two phases:
Phase One
5. We need to reduce fees now. Doing this will ensure that the DVLA does not
charge customers more than it costs to provide the services we offer and will benefit a
broad range of customers. Phase One will focus on private motorists and professional
drivers. The proposals in Phase One largely centre on the first application for a driving
licence, ten year renewals of photocard driving licences and digital tachographs.
Focusing on these transactions allows us to help first time drivers, professional drivers
and the large proportion of all drivers who have to renew their photocard licence every
ten years.
Phase Two
6. This will involve a comprehensive review of the DVLA’s funding and how we can
further our strategic objectives. It will focus on the way we deliver our services to
customers in light of the introduction of further digital services. This phase will also
focus on fees charged for vehicle registration transactions.