What is changing, what it means for your driving school, and what you may need to put in place.
The DVSA has published a new mandatory Driving Instructor Code of Practice, expected to take effect between late 2026 and early 2027. Aberdeen Business Online has reviewed the published Code and broken the key requirements down into practical, everyday driving-school situations to help instructors understand how the changes may affect their own business.
Not sure where to start? I recommend reading the free Interactive Guide first. It explains the new Code in straightforward language, what it means in day-to-day practice, and the areas of your driving school you may need to review.
Practical guidance for independent driving instructors, followed by personalised documentation and digital options if you need help putting the requirements into practice.
Written terms are an important part of the new DVSA Code, but they are only one part of what instructors now need to understand.
The published Code also covers the way you keep lesson records, communicate pupil progress, handle money paid in advance, protect pupil information, use photos or other marketing material, deal with complaints and meet wider professional responsibilities.
Your written terms need to clearly cover areas such as your business details, lesson prices and duration, cancellations, refunds, personal data and how pupils can complain.
Accurate records need to show the lessons and hours that have actually been delivered to each pupil.
Pupils need clear information about their current progress and the areas or further training they still need to work on.
If pupils pay for lessons or blocks in advance, those payments need to be properly accounted for and remaining credit needs to be clear.
The way pupil information is collected, stored, used and retained needs to be clear and handled in line with data protection requirements.
Pupil information, photographs and videos must not be used publicly without the appropriate explicit written consent.
Pupils need to know how to make a complaint, complaints need to be handled promptly, and a record needs to show how each complaint was resolved.
The Code also covers wider areas such as safeguarding, professional boundaries, road safety, driving tests, mobile devices and instructor conduct.
The new Code affects both the information you give pupils and parts of the way your driving school operates day to day. Understanding those requirements first makes it much easier to work out what, if anything, needs to change in your own business.
Many driving instructors already have Terms & Conditions or pupil paperwork that came from previous training, a franchise, another instructor or documents that have been adapted over time.
Existing wording may still be suitable and can be taken into account when your current setup is reviewed.
Aberdeen Business Online can review what you already use, retain appropriate wording where possible and identify areas that may need updating or documenting more clearly.
The new mandatory Code covers much more than the wording in a Terms & Conditions document.
It also affects records, pupil progress, advance payments, privacy, marketing consent, complaints and wider professional responsibilities.
A generic document may provide a useful starting point, but a document by itself does not establish how your own business handles lesson records, pupil progress, advance money, personal information, marketing consent or complaints. The important question is whether your documents, procedures and records reflect how your driving school actually operates.
If you are still working out what the new Code means, start with the interactive guide. If you already understand the changes and want Aberdeen Business Online to review your setup, you can go straight to the guided documentation setup.
The guided documentation setup takes around 15 to 20 minutes.
If you want help putting the requirements into practice, Aberdeen Business Online reviews how your own driving school operates and prepares a personalised set of business documentation around that setup.
This is not a generic document download. You work through a guided review, upload any existing paperwork you want considered, and the finished documents are prepared for you to check and approve.
Prepared around your lesson prices, durations, payment arrangements, cancellations, refunds, test-car policy and the way your driving school operates.
Based on the information you actually collect, the systems you use, how pupil data is handled, retention and other relevant arrangements.
A clear procedure showing pupils how to raise a complaint, how it will be handled and how the complaint and outcome should be recorded.
A separate controlled schedule for your lesson durations, prices and other relevant commercial information.
A clear acknowledgement form so you can record that the pupil received the documentation and had the opportunity to read it.
Where relevant, a separate process for pass photographs, testimonials or other marketing use that requires pupil permission.
A practical instructor checklist covering areas that cannot be solved simply by having a document on file.
Professionally presented PDFs with version information, together with a record of the document set you have reviewed and approved.
The guided setup captures how you deal with lessons, payments, cancellations, refunds, block bookings, practical tests, pupil information, under-18s, dashcams, marketing and complaints.
Aberdeen Business Online reviews that information and any existing documents you provide before preparing the first document set for your review.
Allow around 15 to 20 minutes for the guided business review.
Every option starts with the same guided review and personalised documentation. The difference is what happens afterwards: whether you manage the documents yourself, have them hosted online, collect digital acceptance, or manage the whole record securely in one system.
The £329 option collects digital acceptance and sends the evidence to you. The £399 Complete Documentation System collects it, stores it, organises it and manages the records for you, including document versions and complaints.
No searching through emails, paper forms or folders when you need to prove what a pupil was given and accepted.
Renewal applies only to the online and digital packages. It covers continued hosting, system access, backups, maintenance, technical support and continued use of the service. It does not include unlimited rewriting of your business policies or documentation. Substantive future changes may require a controlled document update and may be charged separately.
Not sure which option suits you? The guided setup includes your package choice and lets you ask Aberdeen Business Online before anything is finalised.
You do not need an Aberdeen Business Online website to use the documentation service. The finished documents and digital systems can work alongside the website you already have.
You receive the approved PDF documents. You can send them directly by email or WhatsApp, print them, or ask your existing website provider to add links to them.
Aberdeen Business Online hosts the current documents for you. You receive one link that can be added to your existing website, sent by WhatsApp or included in emails to pupils.
The digital documentation and acceptance process works independently from your website. Your existing site can simply link to it, or you can send the link directly to pupils.
Your documentation, acceptance records, document versions and complaints register are managed through the secure ABO system. Your website only needs a link if you want one.
You do not need to move your website, change provider or rebuild your online presence. The documentation system can simply be added alongside what you already use.
Aberdeen Business Online also builds professional driving school websites with clear lesson information, pricing, enquiry routes, documentation links and a stronger local online presence.
VIEW PROFESSIONAL WEBSITE EXAMPLEThe setup is designed to gather the information once, review it properly and turn it into a controlled first version of your documentation.
Work through the 15 to 20 minute setup covering the way your driving school currently operates, including lessons, payments, cancellations, refunds, tests, privacy, marketing and complaints.
If you already use Terms & Conditions, registration forms, refund wording or other pupil paperwork, you can upload it so appropriate existing wording can be considered.
Your answers and uploaded documents are reviewed. Missing, unclear or potentially inconsistent areas are identified before the first document set is prepared.
The first personalised document set is created around the agreed way your driving school operates, rather than simply inserting your name into a generic template.
You check the documents, confirm the information is correct and request any reasonable corrections needed to reach the first approved version.
Once approved, the document set is locked as your controlled first version. Final documents and the approval record are issued, with the online or digital service activated where applicable.
The initial purchase includes the work needed to reach the first approved document set. Once that version is approved, it becomes the controlled record of what was current at that time.
Future changes such as prices, cancellation rules, refunds, block-booking arrangements or other business policies may require a new controlled version rather than silently changing the original.
Want to understand the Code first? Open the interactive guide.
Documentation is only one part of running a professional driving school. Aberdeen Business Online also builds practical systems designed around the everyday workflow of independent instructors.
These tools are separate from the documentation packages and are optional. They can help organise enquiries, pupil onboarding, lesson records, credit usage and pupil progress in a more structured way.
Collect the information you actually need from prospective pupils through one clear enquiry process instead of scattered messages.
Move new pupils through a structured onboarding process covering personal details, licence information, experience and relevant confirmations.
Record completed lessons, lesson duration, pupil confirmation and prepaid lesson or block-credit usage in one consistent system.
Keep a structured record of driving skills, dated progress notes, areas worked on and the focus for future lessons.
A simple instructor dashboard gives quick access to the systems you use rather than relying on separate bookmarks and links.
The aim is not to force every instructor into the same generic app. ABO systems can be configured around the practical workflow and information the individual driving school actually needs.
The Driving Instructor Edition software is not included in the £199, £249, £329 or £399 documentation packages. It is a separate range of business tools for instructors who want to improve how enquiries, pupil records, lesson records and progress are managed day to day.
Straightforward answers to some of the main questions driving instructors may have about the new mandatory Code and what it means in practice.
Work through the interactive guide first. It explains the key areas in practical driving-school terms before asking you to decide whether you need any help with your documentation.
Whether you are only starting to understand the new mandatory Code or already know that your documentation needs reviewed, Aberdeen Business Online gives you a clear route forward.
Start with the interactive guide if you want to understand the changes first, or go directly to the guided documentation setup if you are ready to review your own business.
Work through the interactive DVSA guide to see what the published Code covers, what it means day to day and which areas may need attention in your own driving school.
OPEN THE INTERACTIVE GUIDEComplete the guided business review, upload any existing documentation you want considered and give ABO the information needed to prepare your personalised document set.
START MY DOCUMENTATION SETUPAllow around 15 to 20 minutes.