With just under one year to go until the next Driver CPC deadline for most drivers, Driver Hire Training is warning of a worrying trend in the number of drivers that are completing the mandatory training that they need.

The deadline date is 9th September 2019. At this time five years ago, the market was hotting up as drivers and employers started to realise that time was running short to complete their training.
And yet official Government statistics* show that in July 2018, nearly 220,000 fewer hours were uploaded than in the equivalent month in the last five-year cycle. What’s more, the ‘lag’ in training hours is getting worse.

Why is this happening?

Through conversations with its customers and prospects, Driver Hire Training has identified several common themes about why people are not completing their training. These include:

• A belief that Driver CPC will no longer be a requirement after Brexit
• Operational pressures meaning that drivers cannot be released for training
• Limited budget for training
• Not a high priority at the moment

Driver CPC needs to be taken seriously

David Slack, Commercial Director at Driver Hire Training, comments, “We know that at busy times, training can be a low priority. However, the maths is quite simple. At the current rate, there’s a real danger that there just won’t be enough places available for drivers to complete their training. Even if there are, some training providers may offer poor quality, prices are likely to rise, and the operational impact of taking drivers off the road for several days could be enormous.”

“Driver Hire Training currently has some great offers available for companies that want to get ahead of the rush. We can deliver high-quality training across the UK and have a range of unique modules to choose from. For larger clients, we can offer training at your premises and our Driver CPC experts can even handle the training admin for you.”

“As for Brexit,” continues David, “operators must not fall into the trap of believing that Driver CPC is going away. The Government has made it very clear that the rules are not going to change before the CPC deadline. And if Brexit does become very difficult, making changes to the Driver CPC isn’t going to be an early priority! Drivers will need to have their Driver CPC up to date – and if they don’t, they will not be able to drive commercially.”

Assess the impact of training on your organisation

Do you know how many training days you need? Driver Hire Training has created a simple, free calculator which allows you to see quickly how many training days you need to find within your business to ensure that all your drivers have completed all of their hours.

The calculator is available at here

* (July 2013 = 540,343 vs July 2018 = 321,734) See www.gov.uk for more information