How often should employers check driving licences?
Published
There is no law that says "check driving licences every N months". What the law does say — through the Health and Safety at Work Act and the Road Traffic Act — is that an employer must take reasonable steps to ensure people driving for work are entitled to. The interval that counts as reasonable depends on the driver, and picking one interval for everyone is where most policies quietly fail.
Why "once, at onboarding" is not enough
A licence is a snapshot that goes stale. Between checks a driver can:
- accumulate penalty points — courts don't notify employers;
- be disqualified or have the licence revoked, including medical revocations that arrive without any offence;
- lose a category at photocard renewal;
- as a new driver, be revoked entirely at just 6 points under the New Drivers Act.
Around 3 in 100 driving licences carry current endorsements at any time, and a driver banned in month two of an annual cycle drives illegally — in your vehicle, on your insurance — for ten months before the next check would find out.
Risk-based frequency: the defensible pattern
The pattern regulators and fleet auditors (FORS, DVSA earned recognition, insurer questionnaires) expect is frequency that follows the risk:
| Driver profile | Typical interval |
|---|---|
| 0–3 points, standard licence | Every 6 months |
| 4–7 points | Every 3 months |
| 8+ points, or vocational (C/D) entitlements in daily use | Monthly |
| Any pending prosecution or known medical issue | Monthly until resolved |
The exact bands matter less than having bands at all, applying them automatically, and being able to show the record. An employer who can produce "checked on these dates, at this frequency, because of this points history" has evidence of a working system — the heart of the duty of care.
DV Check's default schedule follows this pattern, tightening automatically as risk builds: every driver is re-checked at least every three months, and the cadence drops to monthly for anyone at 6 or more penalty points — or with any licence problem on record (expired photocard, suspension, revocation, disqualification, or a missing entitlement for their assigned role) — with a new starter's first re-checks brought forward to every 30 days.
Why manual checking defeats good intentions
A sensible policy checked manually via check codes means chasing every driver for a fresh code every cycle — the code expires in 21 days and is single-use. In practice the chasing lapses, the spreadsheet ages, and the policy exists only on paper. If the interval is shorter than a year, automation isn't a luxury; it is the only way the policy survives contact with a busy depot.
Frequently asked
Is an annual check legally sufficient?
There's no statute to point at either way — but "annual" is increasingly hard to defend at tribunal or inquest for anyone driving daily, given how cheaply continuous checking is available. Reasonableness is judged against what a prudent employer could have done.
Do agency drivers need checking too?
Yes. The duty follows who causes or permits the driving, not who employs the driver. Take your own evidence rather than relying on the agency's word.