This is a complete rewrite of the original 2018 article. It applies to my own renewal process this year which – in the end – ran quite smoothly.
I received an email from DVSA at the start of April 2022 warning me that my Green Badge (my licence to teach) expired later in the year and would need to be renewed. It informed me that the first thing I needed to do was obtain an up-to-date Enhanced Criminal Record Disclosure. DVSA provided a link to the company which now handles this – First Advantage (FADV).
I immediately set about applying, only to find that FADV’s website was down. However, after some emails to DVSA and FADV, the latter kickstarted the process.
Step 1 is to complete the FADV online form. I made sure I used the date I passed my driving test (because of what happened last time) as the ‘valid from’ date, and that my bank statement was dated from at least yesterday (also because of what happened last time). My passport was my third document. Once I was happy with everything, I printed the form off.
Step 2 is to take the form, along with your documents, to a suitable Post Office to have it officially checked. Last time, the only office which did this check near me was the main Post Office in Nottingham city centre, which is an absolute pain to get to, and an even worse one to have to endure. Fortunately, it now seems that almost all small Post Offices (other than the really tiny ones in some village stores) can do this check, so I took mine to a local one I use regularly after checking (and was surprised to discover) that it provided the service. It’s called the Branch Verification Service, and you can find out which Post Offices near you provide it here.
Last time, they were intent on rejecting my application (the ‘valid from’ date on my driving licence being a major annoyance), and I had to make two visits – which I was not at all happy about. This time, they completed the check in less time than it takes to send a parcel.
I monitored the progress of my application, the trigger for which is when the Post Office approves your application. After about a week, I got an email from First Advantage informing me I had moved to ‘the next stage of processing’. The same day, I got an email from DVSA, advising me that my criminal record certificate had been accepted by the Registrar and I could remain on the Register until my current badge expired. It also clearly pointed out that I should apply for my new badge early in the month my existing one expires. I set an alarm in my online calendar for 1 October 2022.
A few days later, my own copy of the Disclosure arrived in the post. You need to make sure you don’t lose this, because you’ll need some details from it when you eventually apply to renew your badge.
All of this took under one month (and it would have been less if it hadn’t been for the usual issues getting a paper copy of my bank statement, which added over a week to the timeline).
Step 3 is the application for renewal of your badge. I began mine on 1 October 2022, and since that was a Saturday, nothing happened until 3 October, when it showed up as ‘pending renewal’. By 6 October, the expiry date on my licence shown by IRDT had changed from October 2022 to October 2026. My new badge arrived on 10 October 2022.
The renewal process uses the IRDT system, so make sure you are registered with it, and that you can log in, well before you need to do it for real. You will need the reference number and issue date from your Enhanced Disclosure in order to complete the application. Also don’t forget that there is a renewal fee of £300 (current for October 2022) to be paid upon application. There is also a GOV.UK link to renew your approved driving instructor (ADI) registration, which simply links to IRDT.
IMPORTANT: If anything goes wrong at any stage in all this, get it sorted quickly by phoning or emailing either FADV or DVSA. Do not let time run out. Make sure that each stage goes to completion and is not left hanging, because the next one won’t be triggered if the one before it has stalled.
I get quite a few queries asking what to do now when someone can’t log in somewhere, or has just left it far too late. One person a couple of years ago hadn’t even applied for their DBS at the start of the month their licence ran out!