Fact-Check: No, Immigration Is Not The Only Reason Driving Tests Are So Delayed Right Now

An uptick in immigration has been blamed for the delay to driving tests. But that's not the full picture.A surge in net migration has been widely blamed for causing a substantial backlog to driving tests in the UK right now – but that’s actually the full picture.Officials from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) told the transport secretary Heidi Alexander over the weekend that the unprecedented surge in immigration since 2021 is to blame for the backlog.Learners are currently waiting up to six months to take a test, compared to just over six weeks in 2018-2019.That’s far from the DVSA’s target wait time of seven weeks.At the end of August, there were 644,398 future tests waiting to be booked, which is almost three times higher than the 219,786 total recorded in February 2020.According to minutes released via a Freedom of Information request, the cabinet minister was urged to consider “immigration options” and “minimum learning periods” by transport officials.But, as the government pointed out, there are multiple factors playing into the problems around booking a driving test at the moment.Why is there a delay to driving tests?Immigration is one of multiple factors pushing back driving tests.According to the Department for Transport, an increase in the population of 17-year-olds in recent years is partially behind the backlog.There’s also been a sharp rise in demand for provisional driving licences since 2019, a large component of which was driven by applicants born outside the UK.However, for many this will be for identity purposes – not for taking a driving test.A provisional driving licence is a valid form of ID and costs just £34 if applied for online, while a standard passport can cost £94.50.There’s also the ongoing delays from the pandemic, as well as a shortage of examiners.A government spokesperson also criticised the DVSA’s comments around immigration, saying: “This is incomplete analysis of the many causes of driving test wait times.“This government has seen net migration fall by 300,000 since July last year.“We inherited a broken driving test system where many learners found themselves stuck in a frustrating limbo, but the government has taken decisive action to address this and the DVSA has carried out over 20,000 more tests between June to August this year and the pass rate remains the highest it’s been since May 2021.”Why is this important?A surge of anti-immigration sentiment has swept across the UK in recent months, resulting in demonstrations outside asylum hotels and Saturday’s far-right march through London.It’s widely believed that online misinformation is one of the main catalysts for such displays.As data from the Office for National Statistics points out, net migration has halved since its record levels in 2023, falling to 431,000 in the year ending December 2024.But, concerns over immigration are at the highest outside of 2015, with 49% of the British public saying immigration is an important issue facing the UK today.Related...Rylan Clark's Immigration Comments On This Morning Spark Wave Of Ofcom ComplaintsStarmer Accuses Reform Of 'Feeding On Grievance' Amid Immigration RowRichard Tice Snaps At Trevor Phillips As Presenter Pokes Holes In Reform's Immigration Policies

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Fact-Check: No, Immigration Is Not The Only Reason Driving Tests Are So Delayed Right Now

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