The ADLV (Association for Driving Licence Verification) www.adlv.co.uk is forecasting that best practice and road safety objectives will drive a greater fleet focus on the volume, frequency and type of electronic driver checks in 2016. Amongst the trends that the ADLV forecasts are:

Greater Frequency Of Checking:

In keeping with its recent marketing campaign, encouraging Fleet Managers to move to quarterly checks from annual ones, the ADLV is expecting that the average frequency of online checks will increase significantly. The figures are particularly important given the recent statistics highlighted by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM). These show that 7,621 people are still driving with 12 points or more on their licence. A further 36,000 motorists are on the brink of losing their driving licence. Whilst these drivers have reached the threshold to receive a ban, they are still driving, endangering other road users.

The ADLV believes that as most fleets move to biannual or quarterly checking, motivated by the general trend towards lower cost per check, the risk of fleet drivers carrying undeclared endorsements will be dramatically reduced. This policy has already received widespread acclaim from many of the UK’s largest fleets and the ADLV believes that this momentum will continue to gain pace across the course of the coming year. From a current base of 1.4 checks per driver per annum, the ADLV believes that the figure is likely to exceed to 1.7 checks per driver per annum in 2016.

Increased Volume of Checks:

Partly as a result of the increased frequency and partly as a result of the abolition of the paper license counterpart last July, there will be an overall increase in the annual volume of electronic checks in the coming year. The number of checks through the ADLV membership has been rising steadily over the course of this year it is expected that the total number will now increase to over 2.5 million in 2016, a growth rate of around 25% per annum.

Wider Range of Data Available:

The breadth and type of data available to Fleet Managers will also increase as the concept of ‘Know Your Driver’ spreads as a Best Practice. This will help tackle growing issues such as Right To Work in the commercial sector where the use of illegal workers is becoming a burning issue.

Commenting on the forecasts, Richard Payne-Gill Deputy Chair of the ADLV noted; “2016 will be a tipping point for commercial electronic licence checking as Fleet Managers, HR Executives and Risk Assessors now understand the real potential of frequent electronic checking and the increasing breadth of datasets that are becoming available. This allows Fleets to set new standards of best practice on one hand whilst making a real contribution to road safety on the other.

“Probably the most significant change will be the evolution of the data itself, including an increase in the number of datasets available. This is being driven by the demands from Fleet Managers themselves who see this new approach as benefitting both fleet management best practice and road-safety. It will also add to the confidence companies have that the right people are behind the wheels of their vehicles. Indeed the days of rogue drivers slipping through the net are now well and truly numbered.”

The ADLV (Association for Driving Licence Verification) www.adlv.co.uk has reported a surge in online commercial checking from vocational fleets following the abolition of the paper driving licence counterpart in July this year. Despite a slight reduction in the growth rate of checking immediately prior to the change, the rate of increase for the months of July and August over the prior year, were 38.0% and 37.3% respectively. The ADLV forecasts that the total number of checks carried out by members this year will now exceed 2 million.

The ADLV believes that the scale of the increase in the rate of growth is also a reflection of its campaign to encourage electronic checking as a fundamental best-practice for fleet management. In addition, the numbers also reflect the association’s recent ‘road safety’ campaign. This urges fleet managers to increase the frequency of checks from annual to quarterly in order to identify high-risk drivers, such as those with mobile phone convictions.

One ADLV member reports that since the organisation’s launch, the average number of checks per driver per annum is up nearly 30% from 1.1 checks to 1.4 checks per driver. In response to the figures the ADLV is planning to introduce other ‘know your driver’ options, within its checking system, which will ensure even higher standards for ‘entitlement to drive’ checking.

Commenting on the news, Malcolm Maycock Chair of the ADLV noted, “Finally, following the abolition of the counterpart, the message has got through that electronic checking is now a best-practice for those fleet managers that are keen to comply with the highest standards.

“In addition, as increased checking means that high risk drivers are spotted more quickly, there is a realisation that embracing electronic checking more fully contributes significantly to road safety. So we welcome any upswing in the figures, as this translates directly into the roads being safer for the public.  Ultimately, with electronic checking facilitating the ever more extensive use of big data, we believe that organisations will be keen to gain a far greater degree of knowledge about exactly who is entitled to be behind the wheel of their vehicles. The ADLV will meet this demand with a number of announcements over the coming months.”

The ADLV (Association for Driving Licence Verification) www.adlv.co.uk is calling for fleet managers to make more regular checks on driver licence entitlement. This would include quarterly checks for vocational fleets as a norm and more frequent checks where driver risk profiles warrant it. Currently, most organisations, including those with vocational fleets, work on just an annual or bi-annual basis. By establishing industry standards based on driver risk profiles, the ADLV believes that fleets will be able to more quickly identify high-risk groups, such as those with mobile phone misuse and other offences. In using the latest commercial licence checking systems, through an ADLV member to perform repeat checks, Fleet Managers can be sure that they have taken the appropriate action, minimised the risks to the public and boosted road safety.

More frequent checking is a straightforward process for the ADLV’s members. Their commercial checks can be repeated easily without the need for renewed consent each time; as informed consent is given for a three-year period. The ADLV believes that the highly practical nature of this approach compares favourably to the DVLA’s ‘Share Driver Licence’ option, which requires employees to submit their personal details for each check. This, claims the ADLV, could be disruptive in the workplace where it relies on manual processes to ensure drivers are checked frequently. Many also feel that manual checks can mean both higher internal costs and the risk of the process not being properly assessed.

The ADLV’s Deputy Chair Richard Payne-Gill believes that a move to more regular checking will support both risk reduction and road safety. He notes, “Previously annual or bi-annual checks were deemed to be sufficient. However, the latest checking systems, available through ADLV members, deliver more regular checks and are already being followed by some major fleets. In our view more frequent automated commercial checking varied according to driver risk profile, will establish it self as the best-practice for all professional fleet managers.”

ADLV Polls Fleet and HR Management On Best Practice Procedures For Online Guide To Driving Entitlement

The ADLV (Association for Driving Licence Verification) www.adlv.co.uk is seeking to incorporate feedback from Business Owners, Fleet Managers and HR officers in developing a Best-Practice Guide to checking driver licence entitlement. The new on-line Guide, which will highlight the correct verification systems to use in specific circumstances, is being drawn up in response to the imminent withdrawal of the paper driving licence counterpart by the DVLA. Once published, the Guide will serve as a compliance document for both the private and public sector fleet industries. Amongst the topics that the Best-Practice Guide will cover are:

The legal aspects of driver entitlement: This will cover the current classes and categories of licence and the verification levels required to meet them.

Endorsement Codes: An overview of existing codes.

Holders of overseas licenses: This section will highlight guidance on defining residency both within and outside the European Union and the appropriate requirements for driver entitlement accordingly.

License Checking Options and Procedures: The Guide will highlight the different systems available for checking driver entitlement and which of these Fleet and HR managers see as providing the most appropriate level of compliance for their own circumstances. This includes the difference between the DVLA and the commercial services available. For example, most Fleet Managers with fleets of over 20 drivers are already moving to commercial electronic checking as Best–Practice. It will also highlight the correct procedures for each option – for example the VDL (View My Licence) facility is purely for use by the licence holder themselves and not by third parties.

Areas of caution: The final section of the guide will seek to ensure that readers are aware of the limitations of some methods of checking and their liabilities under current Data Protection legislation. An example of each would be:

The .pdf screen shot that can be produced with the DVLA’s single-view SMDR (ShareMyDriving Record) service has no legal standing and is not a sufficient proof of driver entitlement on its own as it can be edited.

The DVLA’s current VDL (View My Licence) facility is purely meant for use by the individual licence holder or could be used by a business but only with the driver’s explicit consent. Some organisations have wrongly assumed this consent has been given automatically; it is a criminal offence to obtain someone else’s information without their permission.

Commenting on the preparation of the Best-Practice Guide Richard Payne-Gill, Deputy Chair of the ADLV said, “The need for this guide is clearly pressing, given the on-going confusion about the various licence checking options available following the withdrawal of the paper counterpart to the licence.

“We are preparing the Guide, as organisations need to know the Best-Practice way to proceed and what constitutes compliance within their own organisation. However, rather than simply dictate the key issues and remedies therein, we aim to include feedback from Business Owners, HR officers and Fleet Managers to ensure that we are both relevant and meeting the real needs of the market once the licence counterpart has gone.

“In the future we are also considering a video on the “Caution” element of the Guide to show just how easy it is to abuse and misuse paper .pdfs and the serious consequences of getting it wrong.

“So the ADLV would love to hear from relevant parties across all sectors, including both car and freight based fleets, about the issues raised and we look forward to incorporating as many of their ideas as possible.”

Licence Verification) from the DVLA, reveal that there has been a considerable increase in commercial electronic checking of licenses by fleets. The figures record the volume of licence checks made through members of the DVLA’s EDECS Electronic Driver Entitlement Checking Service, the vast majority of which are ADLV members. In the last three months of 2014, the statistics show that the volume of licenses checked electronically, by these organisations, rose sharply by more than 22% on prior year; this represents an increase in the percentage growth rate on prior year by 34% over just one quarter. The total number of checks undertaken by EDECS users on behalf of UK fleets was in excess of 1.7M in 2014.

According to ADLV Member Richard Brown the figures reflect both the news that the paper licence counterpart is set to disappear and awareness that the ADLV has been launched to advance the cause of commercial best-practice for electronic checking. In his view: “These figures are highly significant. They show that Fleet Managers are recognising that best-practice has changed and that electronic checking through a fully managed service from a professional third party is the right way to check driver entitlement; as it enables automated and continuous checking with full reporting and audit trails. We expect that these figures will continue to rise, especially as we get closer to the disappearance of the paper counterpart. 

“The change in practice has also been reinforced by a general understanding that the paper .pdf generated through the DVLA’s single record Share My Driving Licence alternative has no legal standing. There is also a concern, that PDF and printed paper documents are open to fraud, which could leave organisations exposed to compliance risk. Many Fleet managers see electronic checking as a superior and risk free path to follow and as the message spreads we expect a significant adoption of these processes over the next 6 months.”

The current list of ADLV members that fleet managers can contact should they require driving licence checks is a follows:

The AA, Admin Business Solutions, Chalcheck Ltd, Descartes Systems UK Ltd, DriveTech (UK) Ltd, Drivercheck Ltd., Driving Monitor, Fleet Claims Administration Ltd, Fleet Partnership Solutions Ltd, GB Group plc., Jaama Ltd, Inchcape Fleet Solutions, Intelligent Data Systems (UK) Ltd, Interactive Driving Systems Ltd, Licence Bureau Ltd, Licence Check Ltd, and Pinewood Technologies.

The Association For Driving Licence Verification (ADLV) has responded to reports that the date for the abolition of the paper counterpart to the current driving licence has been delayed. In their view the delay is irrelevant as the time for many fleets to change their processes is now. This reflects a recognition by the Association that some corporate fleet users are concerned that even when the current alternative proposed by the DVLA becomes available it might not address all their business compliance and operational requirements for fleets of 20 or more. As an alternative approach and a call to action, the ADLV is recommending that fleet managers evaluate available commercial alternatives now to reap immediate and significant efficiency savings as well as data security enhancements.

As the ADLV Chair Malcolm Maycock comments; “The benefits of electronic checking are already available and proven so why wait until someone decides a date for the inevitable? Organisations seeking to professionally manage and protect their employees’ driver data should make the move to electronic checking now.”

The ADLV’s Technical Director Kevin Curtis comments; “Working alongside the DVLA the ADLV will launch a ‘Real Time’ checking service early in the New Year. We also plan to launch the new eConsent service for paperless checks as well as the current ‘wet signature’ D796. ADLV members offer a risk free and compliant solution to managing driver data and this is being well received by those who wish to take a professional approach.”

In the New Year, the ADLV will also be contacting fleet managers to recommend they make the move to electronic verification now instead of waiting for confirmation of when the paper counterpart is to be abolished.

The Association for Driving Licence Verification (ADLV) www.adlv.co.uk is to launch a new package of measures aimed at reinforcing the quality and security of driving licence data for corporate fleet users. The measures will form the first steps towards a new industry standard aimed at ensuring risk free access to licence data once the paper counterpart disappears early in 2015. The new measures are seen as a response to corporate fleet concerns over non-commercial licence checking services which some worry are open to potential misuse and abuse by staff which leaves their employers at risk under current data protection legislation.

As Richard Payne-Gill a Director of the ADLV says, “Data security and avoidance of data fraud are issues requiring sound governance. Corporate HR Directors, Risk Specialists and Fleet Managers must adhere to only the highest standards of Information Security when it comes to their employee’s data. Any serious breach leaves them exposed to the law and potentially affects their reputation as an employer.

DVLA is soon to introduce the Share My Driving Licence facility (SMDL) which will allow motorists to share up-to-date information electronically about their driving entitlement. The ADLV has shared its concerns with the DVLA about allowing the driver to produce a PDF version of their record which could easily be manipulated. Further, without training companies may inadvertently accept the document as proof of entitlement to drive not understanding they still need to check further online. Corporate users can avoid this issue by using the services which are already commercially available, these are equipped to deal with employers that need batch services for reasons of organisational efficiency rather than a transactional service, ensuring that their driving licence entitlement is correct and sufficient for their purposes.

“As corporate users cannot accept any risk, especially when it comes to employee data, they have welcomed the professional, independent licence verification services provided initially by members of the DVLA’s EDECS system and more recently the ADLV itself. Where corporate fleet managers only use an ADLV member, it reduces such risks and these new measures will reinforce the quality of the service they deliver. By using the services of an ADLV member, the possibility of someone playing
fast and loose with driver licence data is history.

The package includes a membership roadmap to ISO 27001 compliance and the addition of e-consent for ID Assurance; ensuring an individual’s identity is properly verified before sensitive personal information is accessed.”

The ADLV is currently working on a range of other new standards aimed at effective corporate fleet governance, which are likely to be announced in the first quarter of 2015.

The recently launched ADLV (the Association for Driving Licence Verification) www.adlv.co.uk has announced that it is now working closely with the DVLA on a new digital service for fleet customers to check driving licence data in real-time. Subject to licence holder consent, the new secure digital web services technology will enable ADLV members, and other organisations meeting DVLA requirements who sign up to the service, to perform 24/7 real-time licence checks for the first time. The new system will also enable faster batch processing of licence data.

Ultimately, it is intended that the new service will replace the DVLA’s current EDECS (Electronic Driver Entitlement Checking Service) system, which is used by members of the ADLV to provide secure driver licence information to many UK fleet operators of all sizes across UK industry. Fleet users of the service will also continue to have access to comprehensive management reporting on driver checks using the services of Approved Operators of the ADLV.

Kevin Curtis the ADLV’s Technical Director believes that the new service’s benefits are clear and that there will also be a best practice dividend. In his view, “By working closely with the DVLA on this new platform, ADLV members can deliver 24/7 real-time checking and faster batch processing for fleet users. This will be a major advance over the current service and as such the new system will re-define best practice across the sector.”

Eddie Eusebi a founder member of the ADLV welcomed Kevin’s comments adding, “The formation of the ADLV means that we are able to work with the DVLA on many different fronts ensuring best practice and compliance for our members.”

Initial ADLV member organisations include: Licence Check Ltd, Drivercheck Ltd, Licence Bureau Ltd, Fleet Claims Administration Ltd, DrivingMonitor, AA DriveTech (UK) Ltd, GB Group plc, Pinewood Technologies, Admin Business Solutions, Interactive Driving Systems Ltd, Fleet Partnership Solutions Ltd, Chalcheck Limited, Descartes Systems UK Ltd, Intelligent Data Systems (UK) Ltd., Inchcape Fleet Solutions & Jaama Limited.

The service is nearing completion and is scheduled for launch in early 2015.

A new trade body, the Association for Driving Licence Verification (www.adlv.co.uk) has been launched to provide fleet users with responsible and secure access to DVLA driving licence data. Formed in part as a response to the upcoming abolition of the current driving licence paper counterpart, members of this new association are already established providers of driver licence checking through the DVLA’s Electronic Driver Entitlement Checking Service [EDECS]. The data offered by the ADLV member companies will formalise this grouping and provide employers with a new and comprehensive alternative for validating the driver entitlement data for their employees. To ensure that the highest quality standards are maintained, the ADLV will conduct regular audits of members and operate within a strict code of conduct to ensure that the DVLA’s data assurance standards are met.

Working on an online batch e-processing basis, subject to consent from the licence holder, ADLV members will supply customers with full licence details, have the ability to schedule data re-checks and monitor licence holders dependent on updated driver risk profiles. Users of the service also have access to comprehensive management information and reporting across a whole fleet. As a batch service for fleets, the ADLV’s system will be in contrast to the DVLA’s proposed SMDR (Share My Driver Record) facility, a single-query ad-hoc service that requires each driver to register their consent every time their employer wishes to access their driver record from the DVLA.

As the newly appointed ADLV Chair Malcolm Maycock notes, “There is a willingness by all the main groups involved to support the formation of a trade association that delivers a best practice approach to driving licence verification for fleets. The ADLV addresses these needs fully and has recruited the most experienced and professional organisations in the business to deliver the service. Indeed all of the ADLV membership are very much a proven and trusted quantity. Looking forward, the ADLV is currently working closely with the DVLA on new batch and real-time solutions that will replace and enhance the existing services in the near future.”

Jim Kirkwood (Managing Director of AA Driving Services added to the chorus of support commenting, “There are a number of important issues involved here. On one hand there’s the safety issue of ensuring that drivers of fleet vehicles have the right entitlements. Then there’s the issue of privacy, as no-one wants to run the risk of exposing extremely sensitive and personal driver data to all-comers. We welcome the creation of the ADLV as real progress towards solving these issues, as it ensures appropriate data access governed by strict compliance and protected by effective security, in line with the DVLA’s data assurance standards. In this respect it meets the operational demands of both the fleet and insurance industries.”

Initial ADLV member organisations include: Licence Check Ltd, Drivercheck Ltd, Licence Bureau Ltd, Fleet Claims Administration Ltd, DrivingMonitor, AA DriveTech (UK) Ltd, GB Group plc, Pinewood Technologies, Admin Business Solutions, Chalcheck Ltd, Interactive Driving Systems Ltd, Fleet Partnership Solutions Ltd, Descartes Systems UK Ltd, Intelligent Data Systems (UK) Ltd.