Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 25th April 2024 Issue no. 1111
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Keep driver testing at top speed, Logistics UK urges DVSA
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency must maintain its rapid programme of vocational driver tests, according to business group Logistics UK, if it is to overcome the backlog of outstanding tests which threatens to derail the UK's highly interconnected supply chain, due to a shortage of drivers.
Speaking after a meeting with new DVSA chief executive Loveday Ryder, Logistics UK's chief executive David Wells was encouraged by progress made so far by the agency, but warns that there is still much work to be done:
"While DVSA is now delivering vocational tests at around double its pre-pandemic weekly volumes, I queried whether this is sustainable under the organisation's current set up," reports David. "More than 30,000 LGV driving tests did not take place between March and December 2020, with even more cancelled during the lockdown at the start of 2021, meaning that potential employees have been denied entry to their chosen profession at a time when logistics businesses need them urgently.
"It is vital that DVSA maintains the testing rates which have been achieved in the past couple of weeks, but this is a marathon, not a sprint. The volumes of outstanding tests are preventing at the very least 15,000 applicants with successful passes from joining the sector at a time when our supply chain desperately needs their skills.
"Logistics has suffered from a skills shortage for some time, but with the loss of our EU nationals, the situation has now become acute, with more than 76,000 drivers needed by our sector. Restarting testing and catching up with the backlog of outstanding driving tests is the single biggest step that can be taken to fill some of the industry's vacancies, but employers - whose turnover has been hit hard by the pandemic - need more support, such as interest free loans or grants, to help cover the costs of driver training, which can run to thousands of pounds.
"The Apprenticeships scheme also needs an urgent overhaul, to make the qualifications on offer more business friendly, and to increase the funding band for the new HGV Driver apprenticeship standard. Without these changes, our sector will find it increasingly difficult to deliver for customers right across the economy."
Logistics UK is one of the UK's leading business groups representing logistics businesses which are vital to keeping the UK trading, and more than seven million people directly employed in the making, selling and moving of goods via road, rail, sea and air. With Covid-19, Brexit, new technology and other disruptive forces driving change in the way goods move across borders and through the supply chain, logistics has never been more important to UK plc.
27th May 2021