Doctors will see a 56 per cent increase in fees for driving licensing medical forms, following an agreement reached between the BMA and DVLA (Driving and Vehicle Licensing Agency).
The rates for completing medical information forms for drivers is set to increase for the first time since 2012, after months of constructive and principled negotiations between the association’s professional fees committee and the DVLA.
The agreement will see fees for doctors working in primary and secondary care harmonised to £50 from 1 January next year, with this figure set to further increase to £62.50 from 1 April 2026.
The current payable rate for this non-contractual work is £40 for GPs and £42 for consultants.
Under the terms agreed by the PFC and DVLA, fees for the standard medical questionnaire will further be subject to annual uplifts in line with the consumer price inflation index from 1 April in 2027 and 2028, capped at 5 per cent.
The DVLA has also committed to reviewing fees should future inflation exceed 5 per cent.
Uneconomic
Welcoming the rise in fees, BMA professional fees committee chair Rob Barnett (pictured above) said he hoped the revised charge and commitment to future inflationary increases would go some way to addressing the concerns of GPs, SAS doctors and consultants affected by this type of work.
He said: ‘This fee increase is a recognition of the fact the level of professional fees payable to doctors by the DVLA were no longer economic and had not increased since 2012.
‘Furthermore, as this type of work is a non-NHS service and their completion is not part of the NHS contracts of employment, we made it clear that the fee for the work must cover the cost of provision and procurement of service as well as reward for effort, skill and responsibility.’
In a letter sent in December, Dr Barnett further encouraged members completing fitness to drive and other medical requests to ensure that all completed forms be returned to DVLA within four to six weeks.
The recent agreement on fees for medical forms in driving licensing is just part of the work undertaken by the BMA, with the PFC also actively working to address outdated and insufficient fees in a number of other non-contractual areas.
This includes ongoing discussions with the Ministry of Justice on the fees levied for undertaking autopsy work, and negotiations with the Maritime and Coastal Agency on medicals for sailors UK and the Department of Work and Pensions on benefit certification work.