Instructor Support Update – 17^th July

Verifying Pupil Payments
We continue to enjoy a successful relaunch in England following the resumption of driving lessons on the 4^th July. Pupil demand has been at an all-time high and the teams are working extremely hard to process pupil enquiries.

A fuller update on the new prepayment system’s progress will be made next week, however, we would like to take this opportunity to remind our instructors of the verification process.

Upon booking in the student, you must include the pupil’s name alongside the words “booked in” in your text/email to the bookings team. Omitting either of these pieces of information will result in a slower processing of prepayments

We are currently slightly behind due to the extraordinary levels of demand; however, we are enhancing our procedures further and intend to complete every transaction as soon as possible.

Driving Lessons in Wales
We are extremely pleased to note that the Welsh Government has now confirmed that driving lessons can restart on Monday 27th July in Wales. We are delighted that our driving instructors based in Wales now have a road map to resuming their businesses successfully.

As per the Instructor Support Update made last month from our Franchise Development Manager, for those in Wales, the franchise fee will remain at £65 per week until the restart and thereafter the following payment schedule will apply:

Week 1 of restart: w.c 27th July = £65
Week 2: w.c 3rd August = £115
Week 3: w.c 10th August = £165
Week 4: w.c 17th August  = Your standard franchise fee

Driving tests will start again in Wales on Monday 17 August 2020, which will give learner drivers time to have refresher lessons and practice before taking their test.

If you require your diary status changing in consideration of the announced restart date, please inform a member of the Instructor Support Team at the earliest convenience. We wish all our instructors in Wales the very best with their businesses and a successful return.

Driving Lessons in Scotland
The Scottish Government has announced that theory tests can resume in Scotland from Wednesday 22nd July 2020, however driving lessons and tests currently remain suspended.

The Scottish Government are expected to make an announcement on driving lessons on 30th July. Alongside this, once it is clear when lessons are resuming, we anticipate an announcement of when tests will start.

ADI Testing and Standards Checks
The DVSA has announced that standards checks and ADI tests will restart in England from 22 July and in Wales on 17 August. Scotland’s date to resume training and testing has yet to be announced by the DVSA. 

The DVSA are currently giving priority to PDIs whose Part 2 test was put on hold, which will give PDIs taking their Part 3 and ADIs who are due their standards check, more time to prepare.

The DVSA will reopen the booking service to everyone, once they have contacted everyone whose test was affected and rescheduled due to Coronavirus. More information is expected to be shared about the procedures for ADI Part 3 and standards checks soon.

Instructor Support
As ever, we are here for you. Due to the high pupil call demand on the phone lines we kindly ask you to directly email your Relationship Manager in the Instructor Support Team should you need any assistance. Here is our enquiries inbox for general emails [email protected].

We continue to do all we can to support our Instructors, Trainers, Trainees, Staff and Pupils.

Have a great weekend all!

Kind regards

Tom Hixon
Head of Instructor Support