Another amazing and extremely successful year for the pupils of Jeff’s Driver Training who managed to achieve a superb pass rate during 2025 of 73%
With an almost equal split of male and female learners, ages ranging from 17 to 57, this is the first year when every test taken by pupils of Jeff’s Driver Training was in an automatic car.
This now enables a direct comparison to be made with the pass rate in automatic both nationally and at the Worcester Driving Test Centre where all tests for Jeff’s Driver Training were conducted.
The latest figures available from DVSA are for the financial year ending April 2025. These show a national pass rate in automatic of 43.9%, but for Worcester Driving Test Centre 41.4%
I am therefore proud to say that collectively in 2025 pupils of Jeff’s Driver Training achieved a pass rate of around 30% greater than the averages for the Worcester Driving Test Centre and UK as a whole.
Whilst the majority of the credit for this must go to those pupils, for their commitment and hard work, it would also be fair to say that they could not have achieved this without the training and support provided by Jeff’s Driver Training.
Further, DVSA quote the average number of paid tuition hours to test pass as being 45 supplemented by 22 hours of private practice, making a total average of 67 hours of driving experience to test pass.
Unfortunately, there is no breakdown from DVSA to show what the average number of paid lessons to test pass is when there is no option for private practice. However, it would be safe to assume that without the benefit of private practice, the number of paid lesson hours to test pass would probably be significantly higher than 45 hours.
Only a few of the pupils of Jeff’s Driver Training in 2025 were fortunate enough to have access to their own car for private practice. Consequently, the total amount of private practice hours, thus average of these, would be relatively small, and not really of any statistical significance.
Looking at pupil records for 2025, for all those that passed with Jeff’s Driver Training, the average number of paid lesson hours was 37, when corrected to only include those starting as complete novices it was 42 hours. In both cases, irrespective of any additional private practice, the average number of paid lessons hours is less than quoted by DVSA.
This shows that with the professional training, a pass rate significantly above the local and national average can be achieved whilst the number of paid lesson hours remains much lower than the averages quoted by DVSA, which demonstrates that learning to drive with Jeff’s Driver Training is an extremely cost effective option.
It should be noted that a contributory factor to this success has been Jeff’s Driver Training’s use of the DVSA Online Booking Service (OBS) or ‘Instructor Portal’, to ensure tests are secured for each individual pupil at the optimum point in their progress and development as safe drivers.
In Spring 2026 DVSA are removing this facility and instructors will no longer be able to book or manage tests on behalf of their pupils. This is a very emotive and political issue and is part of DVSA’s somewhat misguided attempts to reduce the currently unacceptable backlog of driving tests and wait time for tests.
Taking the ability to manage test dates away from the very professionals that know when their pupils are actually test ready makes absolutely no sense. From Spring 2026 pupils will need to book and manage their own test dates.
Whilst Jeff’s Driver Training will attempt to ensure this does not negatively impact on pass rates, to avoid this, it could mean pupils having to wait longer for a test date as it will be much more difficult than it was previously to swap these between pupils or move them around.
It should be noted, that as per the standard Terms & Conditions a school car will still only be available to pupils for tests when in the professional opinion of Jeff’s Driver Training pupils have a good chance of passing in line with previous pass rates, which over the last 6 years has averaged at 75%,
Jeff’s Driver Training will provide pupils with as much help and guidance as possible with booking their tests, to ensure that these coincide with when pupils are test ready, have a good chance of passing, and have demonstrated that they can then continue to drive safely for life.
The format of the driving test itself was also recently changed slightly. In doing this, DVSA’s objective is less stop start driving, to create a more realistic driving scenario incorporating higher speed and rural roads.
The number of times candidates will be required to pull up on the left, a ‘normal stop’, has been reduced from four to three. The frequency with which candidates may be asked to ‘stop as if in a emergency’, has been reduced from one in every three tests to one in every seven tests.
The independent driving section of the test will be more flexible and longer, potentially for the full duration of the test following directions either from a sat nav, road signs, or perhaps even a combination of the two.
Thus far, only two pupils of Jeff’s Driver Training have experienced this new format, and both passed. These changes are not dramatic, and should not present any problems to pupils who are well prepared, competent and safe drivers.