{"id":796,"date":"2014-11-11T23:05:28","date_gmt":"2014-11-11T23:05:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.booktheorytesttoday.com\/?p=796"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-11-11T23:05:28","slug":"driving-test-threat-dvsa-staff-quit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.booktheorytesttoday.com\/blog\/driving-test-threat-dvsa-staff-quit\/","title":{"rendered":"Driving Test under Threat as DVSA Staff Quit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b><i>Book Theory Test Today<\/i><\/b><i> blogger investigates what commentators have called the driving test \u00e2\u20ac\u02dctime bomb\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><!--more--><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Only recently, the <b>Book Theory Test Today<\/b> blogger brought you the news that <b>theory test<\/b> centres across the UK were facing staff shortages. In particular, there was a shortage of Welsh speaking personnel.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">However, it appears the crisis is worse than we thought! The <b>Book Theory Test Today<\/b> blogger says: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Following the merger between the Driving Standards Agency and the Vehicle and Operator Service Agency in April, forming the DVSA (Driving and Vehicle Standards Agency), a total of 37 staff have quit the agency citing Tory government pay changes and job cuts as their motives for leaving.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The UK now faces a bottleneck that looks set to blow as delays and cancellations increase due to the number of examiners quitting the agency.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The <b>Book Theory Test Today<\/b> blogger says: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Merging the DSA and VOSA have so far proven to be a disaster, with employees of the crisis hit DVSA leaving at a rate of more than one a week. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re talking key staff vital to the agency and this is troubling given that the agency was only formed in April.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Pay cuts &amp; job cuts <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">A combination of pay cuts, job cuts and low staff morale, orchestrated by the Tory-led Coalition, has been cited by critics as the reason behind the mass exodus. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The <b>Book Theory Test Today<\/b> blogger says: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Shadow transport ministers within the Labour government fear that the DVSA is on the verge of \u00e2\u20ac\u02dccrashing\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. At present the DVSA employs 4,600 staff, but a chronic shortage means <b>theory tests<\/b> and practical driving exams are facing delay or cancellation, meaning serious problems for learner drivers.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s certainly no joke; the DVSA is in crisis and learner candidates thinking about taking a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.booktheorytesttoday.com\/?page=book&amp;skip=true\"><span class=\"s2\"><b>theory test<\/b><\/span><\/a> or practical exam face anxious times ahead.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">In a statement from Mary Creagh, Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Shadow Transport Secretary, she said: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Incompetent government ministers have plunged test centres into crisis, and learner drivers who have spent time and money on lessons now face delays to their tests.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">She added: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Resignations and examiner shortages at the new \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcDriving and Vehicle Standards Agency\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 have meant a ticking time bomb as waits for tests get longer. After this summer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s passport office debacle and the crashing of the new vehicle tax website this is another reminder that the Tories can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be trusted with key services for motorists.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The <b>Book Theory Test Today<\/b> blogger says: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153At present the outlook for the DVSA is not pleasant. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re already experiencing shortfalls in staff numbers with the DfT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own figures showing that, in March of this year, their target of having 1,704 examiners in place fell short by 60, with just 1,644 in post.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">But, a DVSA spokesperson has played down the crisis, saying: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153DVSA employs over 4,000 people and has had just 37 resignations since April, of which nine were driving examiners. We are confident this will have no impact on driving test waiting times.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Worried about your tests date? Contact <b>Book Theory Test Today<\/b> via our website \u00e2\u20ac\u201c <a href=\"https:\/\/www.booktheorytesttoday.com\"><span class=\"s2\">www.booktheorytesttoday.com<\/span><\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Book Theory Test<\/b> <b>Today <\/b>offers an intermediary service assisting clients with booking a <b>UK driving theory test<\/b>, or practical test, at test centres across the nation. The service also supplies resources to help you prepare for your <b>driving theory test<\/b> \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Ready to take your <b>theory test<\/b>? <b>Book your theory test online <\/b>today\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Book Theory Test Today blogger investigates what commentators have called the driving test \u00e2\u20ac\u02dctime bomb\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[113],"class_list":["post-796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uk-driving-law","tag-uk-driving-law-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktheorytesttoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktheorytesttoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktheorytesttoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktheorytesttoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktheorytesttoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktheorytesttoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktheorytesttoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktheorytesttoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktheorytesttoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}