Government announces VOSA and DSA merger

The Department for Transport (DfT) hgas announced plans to merge the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) and the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) into a single agency. According to the announcement, these services will be delivered by the two agencies under a single chief executive and transitional board from July this year.

Following a period of consultation the government has come to the conclusion that bringing together the testing and standards services currently provided by VOSA and DSA will enable a single agency will bring greater efficiency and potentially allow for the reduction of fees. The initial move will take place in July this year – a single chief executive and transitional board will oversee the two trading funds. The trading funds will continue in their current form for at least the next 12 months. After that more will be known about the detail of the structural reorganisation.

The consultation period on motoring services strategy ran from 13 December 2012 to 7 March 2013. The strategy proposed rationalising the roles and numbers of agencies to provide an improved and more efficient delivery of motoring services to customers. Respondents to the consultation were generally supportive of this proposal, recognising the benefits that such a move would bring, but were keen to protect the quality of services.

RMIF welcomes merger news

The Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMI) was the first directly related industry association to address the news and broadly welcomed the merger announcement. 

Sue Robinson, RMI director commented: “The RMI responded to the Motoring Services Strategy consultation and called on the DfT to rationalise its four key agencies. The move to bring VOSA and DSA under one single agency will avoid duplication of duties and make the agencies more efficient.”

She continued: “Bringing the agencies together should help to simplify processes for businesses as well as keep fees down. The RMI await the outcome of the Motoring Services Strategy and hope that the DfT will take on board our other recommendations, specifically those surrounding an expansion of Authorised Testing Facilities (ATF) testing.

“The RMI also believe that an expansion of online services provided by the DfT agencies would improve efficiency and abolition of tax discs in vehicles.”