Since 8 June 2015, the paper counterpart issued with a photo-card driving licence is no longer valid, and won’t be issued or updated.

As an employer, you are responsible for ensuring your employees have the licence they need to operate company vehicles. Because you can no longer check the paper licence, you’ll need to use the government’s new online service, which enables you to check driving licence data 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Full details of the service are available here.

You can use the service to check:

• That your employee holds a full driving licence for the type of vehicle they will be operating
• That the licence is valid, accurate, and up to date
• Whether they are still within their two-year probationary period
• Whether they have any penalty points or disqualification on their licence