The first component of Driver CPC reform will be enacted this year as planned, subject to parliamentary time being found to oversee it.
That change will see the qualification divided into International and National streams. It is doubtful whether introduction of a National DCPC will be of any benefit to the many longstanding vocational drivers with current qualifications that expire in September. An opportunity has thus already been missed.
While a split into International DCPC (where training will remain largely as-is) and National DCPC may be useful if you happen to be a bus operator, it is less relevant for those with coaches. The principal initial benefits of a National DCPC are to give more latitude to break down courses from a single seven-hour session, and greater scope for e-learning.
To follow in 2025 is a new pathway to returning to driving where a DCPC has expired. It will bring modest benefit, and no reduction in the overall hours of training required, although where the qualification expired less than two years prior to a return, the timeframe for when courses can be taken is extended – including for those wanting an International DCPC.
These are modest benefits that will have little (or no) immediate impact in most cases. Towards the end of the government’s latest paper on what happens now is a small mention of perhaps the most revolutionary part of its plans: Optional periodic test renewal for the National DCPC.
In late 2023, the Department for Transport (DfT) said that introduction of such a test would need further scoping and consultation. Little appears to have progressed since then, and there is nothing new about it in the recent position paper. Hello, long grass.
When such a test was first announced, RHA was quick to say that it would not align with maintenance of road safety standards unless it sat alongside mandatory training. A bus operator also voiced its disapproval, saying that testing without periodic training would “undermine professionalism.” Those are strong words.
Placing the optional test alongside mandatory training for National DCPC – as advocated by RHA – would appear to negate most, or all, of the benefits of introducing the optional test-based approach in the first place.
While DfT has a lot on its plate, a lack of movement there since December 2023 suggests that it may be going cold on the testing idea. If it is, some will agree and some will disagree – a fitting position for anything relating to DCPC.
