Instructor Support Update – 26th June

Post-lockdown Driving Lesson Guidance
As announced in Parliament yesterday by Jacob Rees-Mogg and later confirmed by the DVSA, driving lessons can now resume in England from Saturday 4th July. I’m sure I speak for us all to say how delighted I am with this news.

We will now update our marketing activity accordingly for England.  In Scotland and Wales, the next lockdown announcement measures are on the 9th July and we very much hope to recommence lessons the following week.

For the 94% of you that stated you will provisionally return on 6th July, we will now update your details to confirm your restart on 4th July.

If you still haven’t notified us, please can you now update your Instructor Details via our survey. We will need your response to understand whether you are restarting on 4th July, your pupil requirements and to allocate new bookings.

Update your Instructor Details here – https://forms.gle/MM5w2ZteSY54xFYQ7

If your status has changed for any previously completed responses, please inform your Relationship Manager as soon as possible.

Continued Measures To Help Your Business – Franchise Fee Assistance
We are extremely grateful for the overwhelmingly professional way in which our instructors have conducted themselves throughout Covid-19 crisis, and we want to give everyone the best possible chance of success as business recommences.

Next week’s franchise fee will remain at £65.

In England, in addition to next week, we are offering three more weeks of franchise fee relief measures and the franchise fee will be as follows:

Week 1 of restart: w.c 6th July = £65
Week 2: w.c 13th July = £115
Week 3: w.c 20th July = £165
Week 4: w.c 27th July  = Your standard franchise fee

Plans are in place to double our marketing spend during this period to capture new pupil demand.

In Wales and Scotland, the franchise fee will remain at £65 until business re-starts and then we intend to offer the same franchise fee support as we are doing in England.

Further Measures To Help Your Business – Pricing And Pupil Pre-Payments
To provide further financial assistance to our Driving Instructors and help rebuild your businesses, we have made the decision to remove the “First Hour Free” promotional offer across the driving school and establish a comprehensive pupil pre-payment system for all new learners from 4th July.

Pupil pre-payments will be required for all new students that we provide and will only take place on their initial booking. You will still have complete freedom to manage your diary and schedule pupils as you choose. Subsequent driving lesson purchases will be arranged directly between the instructor and pupil from both a diary and monetary perspective.

There will be a charge for this service, but as a result of removing the First Hour Free, you will receive a far greater lesson revenue from the confirmed introduced booking.

Pupils that are self-sourced are not required to pre-pay through the Bill Plant Driving School Booking Team for their lessons.

The goals of the pupil pre-payment system are as follows:

  • Consistently generate more pre-paid students to increase franchisees’ overall income
  • Ensure that from a financial perspective all franchisees benefit from these changes, no matter what prices they offer
  • Reducing time spent communicating with learners querying pricing
  • Reducing cancellations and ensuring greater commitment from new students
  • Reduce cash handling due to the current Covid-19 situation

You will be provided with more information in the next week, including new promotional offers, via your Relationship Manager, on removing the First Hour Free and on the updated booking processes.

Instructor Support
As ever, we are here for you, please contact your Relationship Manager in the Instructor Support Team on 01765 643374 should you need any assistance.

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

Kind regards


Tom Hixon
Head of Instructor Support