The Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (DCPC) was introduced in the UK in 2007, as specified in EU Directive 2003/59/EC for all commercial drivers.  For passenger (PSV) transport it was rolled out in 2008 and a year later in 2009 for goods (HGV) transport.

Following the lengthy consultation on the changes to the Driver CPC (DCPC) which concluded in December 2023 and which we wrote about in January 2024, the DVSA have recently released guidance on the planned changes due later this year or in early 2025.  The guidance was issued prior to the General Election in July 2024 whilst the Conservative government administration was in power, therefore these changes are still subject to parliamentary approval.

Is the DCPC being Scrapped?

The short answer to that question is NO.  The changes that will come into effect this year are aimed at making the regulatory regime more flexible for commercial drivers who only drive within the UK.  If the proposed changes are approved by Parliament, then commercial drivers will be able to choose to stay qualified using either an International DCPC or a National DCPC.

In order to qualify for an International DCPC drivers will be required to undertake 35 hours of International DCPC training every 5 years.  Holders of this qualification will then be allowed to drive in the European Union and the UK.

Drivers who hold the National DCPC will be allowed to follow a more flexible version of the current DCPC regime.  So if you only wish to drive within the UK you must still undertake 35 hours of National DCPC training every 5 years, but how that training is conducted and through what medium will be more flexible.  Each drivers’ courses must be at least 3 hours and 30 minutes long as opposed to the rigid 7 hour day course previously specified.  The option to do “split courses” will remain, but the new guidance will say that they do not need to be completed on 2 consecutive days, and that course providers will be free to set their own time limits between the two halves of the course.

Course providers will also be allowed to offer e-learning courses, allowing drivers to take these courses at their workplace or possibly from home, rather than having to travel to a course provider’s location.  There will be a limit however on how much e-learning will count towards the 35 hours total training.  Currently it is expected that the guidance will limit e-learning to a maximum of 12 hours.

Encouraging Drivers Back into the Industry:

As a commercial driver, once you have completed the qualifying tests for a driver CPC you will automatically have an International DCPC for the first 5 years of qualification.  This will allow new drivers to drive both in the UK and the European Union.  After the first 5 years, a driver will then have to elect which Driver CPC they wish to stay qualified in, i.e. International or National DCPC, which will obviously dictate what jobs and journeys the driver may undertake.

As well as the flexibility to Transport Operators and their drivers that this new regime will offer, it is hoped to attract drivers who have left the industry to rejoin the driver ranks, by making it easier to re-enter and renew the Driver qualification.  At the moment if a driver’s DCPC had expired then in order to return to driving the driver always needed to take 35 hours of training before they were allowed to start driving again, no matter what previous experience said driver had.  The new guidance is set to change that.  It is proposed that in 2025, subject to Parlimentary approval if a driver’s CPC (international or national) has expired between 60 days and 2 years ago then they will have 3 options on how they requalify:

Option One: International Driver CPC Training

The first option is the current (2023) process that is available:

• Take 35 hours of international Driver CPC training.
• Start driving professionally again in the UK and EU.

Option Two: International Driver CPC training with a ‘return to driving’ module

• • Take a new 7-hour ‘return to driving’ training module
  • Start driving professionally again in the UK
  • Take 28 hours of other International Driver CPC training within 12-months of finishing the ‘return to driving’ module
  • Start driving professionally again in the EU.

Option Three: National Driver CPC Training with a ‘return to driving’ module

• • Take a new 7-hour ‘return to driving’ training module
  • Start driving professionally again in the UK
  • Take a further 28 hours of National Driver CPC or International Driver CPC training within 12 months of finishing the ‘return to driving’ module.

For drivers whose CPC expired more than 2 years ago the proposed 2025 changes will not apply.  If you are returning to commercial driving after a longer break then you will be required to:

• Take 35 hours of international Driver CPC training before you can drive again in the UK or EU
• Take 35 hours of National Driver CPC (or a combination of 35 hours of National and International CPC training) before you can drive again in the UK.

Consultation on Further Changes:

At the time of writing, further changes are still on the cards, and whether the new Labour government will proceed with them is not guaranteed.  The second consultation will look at yet more flexibility to the qualification process.  Key to this is a possible introduction of a new National Driver CPC periodic theory test. The consultation will consider allowing the options of passing such a test every 5 years instead of undertaking the 35 hours of National DCPC training or as another way to requalify after a period of a drivers CPC being expired.

There is no defined date for this second consultation process.  But we do know that it will cover the following areas:

• How long the test is
• What the test will include
• If one would need to pass two separate tests if one drives both HGVs and PSVs.

Industry Reaction: Greater Flexibility Welcomed, but at what cost?

Feedback from leaders in the industry is somewhat muted.  Many acknowledge that more flexibility in the training would be useful for operators and their drivers, but how the new rules will affect road safety is often mentioned along with the ongoing issues with Operators keeping track of their drivers training hours and ensuring that anyone who gets behind the wheel of one of their vehicles is properly accredited, and has all the boxes that they need ticked, ticked!

If you would like any help or advice on your drivers’ training regime and how to ensure you are compliant with this aspect of running a transport operation then call us on 01279 818280 or click here to send us an email.  We are here to help.

(c) Richard Pelly, September 2024