The UK’s burgeoning driving test backlog could be keeping young people out of work as experts call for urgent changes to the testing system.
Fresh analysis of Department for Transport data has found that young motorists are facing an average of 21 weeks to find an available driving test.
This is four times longer than the five-week wait experienced by drivers prior to the coronavirus lockdowns in 2020, which could be keeping tens of thousands of people off the roads and out of work.
Around 70 per cent of test centres had reached the maximum 24-week wait in September 2025, while just 7.7 per cent of all test slots remain available across English centres this year.
In 1994, almost half (48 per cent) of people aged between 17 and 20 held a full car driving licence, compared to just 29 per cent in 2024.
The Centre for Social Justice has warned that young people across the country are being locked out of work, and has called on the Government to introduce new rules to ensure learners are not left behind.
Labour has been urged to let accredited employers conduct Category B car driving tests for their own staff who need a licence to work.
This would be done by expanding the existing delegated examiner scheme beyond HGV licences, and would follow in the footsteps of emergency services and the military.
The Centre for Social Justice has called for new driving test rules to get NEETs on the road with fewer delays
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GETTY/PA
Calls to make changes to the driving test system come following Alan Milburn’s Young People and Work Review, which warned that more than one million young people are now outside of education, employment or training (NEET).
It cautioned that more than a quarter of a million additional young people were at risk of becoming NEET within the next five years.
Ruth Cadbury, Chair of the Transport Select Committee, acknowledged that young people were being kept from gaining key skills because they cannot get a licence.
The Labour MP for Brentford and Isleworth said: “The Government should examine the sensible proposals put forward by the Centre for Social Justice to expand testing capacity, including whether properly accredited employers and colleges can play a greater role.
Experts have called for several new driving test reforms to be introduced to help young people
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PA“Bringing waiting times down would remove a key barrier facing young people trying to make the transition into work.”
The think tank also advocated for the creation of regional driving test hubs where large employers could sell spare capacity to apprentices and smaller local businesses.
Similarly, it is calling on the Government to allow colleges and employers to use vocational and apprenticeship funding to cover the cost of a driving test.
The CSJ highlighted data from the Milburn report that each young person who becomes NEET could lose up to £300,000 in earnings over their lifetime.
The percentage of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) | ONS
Daniel Lilley, head of youth at the CSJ, said NEETs were being held back because of multiple roadblocks, including the inability to get a test.
“The driving test system has been completely overwhelmed since the pandemic, and will continue to shut young people out of job opportunities unless we find new solutions,” Mr Lilley added.
Peter Swallow, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Schools and Labour MP for Bracknell, stated that the Government was looking for “practical solutions” to help NEETs.
Mr Swallow continued, saying: “It should give serious consideration to the CSJ’s proposals for involving employers and colleges in expanding test capacity and bringing the backlog down.
“This would open up a wider range of job opportunities to school leavers and enable them to reap the rewards of the new technical education options the Government is introducing.”
GB News has contacted the DVSA for a comment.