What is Driver CPC?

Driver CPC is the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence. You need it, as well as the right licence entitlement, if driving a lorry, bus or coach is the main part of your job. Passing Category C or C+E does not by itself qualify you to drive professionally.

New drivers qualify by passing the initial tests. After that, 35 hours of periodic training every five years keeps the qualification. That training is National Driver CPC, for professional driving in the UK, or International Driver CPC, for the UK and Europe.

The licence and Driver CPC are different

Your licence entitlement is the category you may drive: C1, C, C+E and the others. HGV licence categories explains what each one covers. Driver CPC is the professional qualification on top of that entitlement. You can hold Category C and still be unable to drive it for a living if your Driver CPC is missing or has run out.

It is also different from Transport Manager CPC, which course adverts often still call Operator CPC. That qualification is for managing an operator’s licence, not for driving the lorry. What Transport Manager CPC is explains the difference.

Initial qualification for new professional drivers

GOV.UK says there are five tests in the full Driver CPC for someone qualifying for the first time. You need a full car licence and a provisional lorry entitlement first. The route is on GOV.UK’s guide to becoming an HGV driver.

• Part 1: the theory test, made up of multiple-choice questions and hazard perception. This is also the lorry theory test.
• Part 2: case studies. Course quotes often still call this Module 2.
• Part 3a: off-road exercises.
• Part 3b: the on-road driving test. Parts 3a and 3b are also the practical licence tests.
• Part 4: a practical demonstration of vehicle safety checks. Course quotes often still call this Module 4.

Part 2 and Part 4

Parts 1 and 3 are the licence tests. Passing them adds the category. Parts 2 and 4 are the extra tests for a new professional driver. Part 2 is case studies. Part 4 is a practical demonstration of the safety and vehicle checks, not another drive around the test routes. You need both if driving the lorry will be the main part of the job.

DVSA publishes fixed fees for each part. They are not the training centre’s course price. HGV training costs sets those official fees next to what a course quote should include. On an approved National Vocational Training course, GOV.UK allows professional driving for up to 12 months before parts 2 and 4, on the conditions it sets. It is not a general exemption.

35 hours every five years

Once you are qualified, you complete 35 hours of periodic training every five years. The deadline is on your Driver CPC card. One set of 35 hours covers both lorries and buses if you drive both professionally. Driving professionally without Driver CPC can bring a fine of up to £1,000. The rules are different in Northern Ireland. The Great Britain guide is GOV.UK’s Driver CPC training guide.

There is no test at the end of a periodic course. You attend, the centre records the hours, and you get a certificate of attendance, which belongs to you. Up to 12 hours of the 35 can be e-learning. You can repeat the same course in a five-year period only with a good reason. Otherwise DVSA can cancel those hours. Providers set their own prices. There is no maximum course price.

National Driver CPC

National Driver CPC is for professional driving in the UK only. The card says “Domestic UK use only” at the bottom. You get it from 35 hours of National courses, or from a mix of National and International courses. A National course is at least 3 hours 30 minutes, in person or as e-learning. A longer course is allowed. The 35-hour total does not change.

International Driver CPC

International Driver CPC is for professional driving in the UK and in Europe. You only get it if all 35 hours are International courses. An International course must be at least 7 hours. It can be taken over two consecutive days and can include e-learning, still within the 12-hour e-learning cap for the five-year total.

Cards issued before 3 December 2024 are International cards. From then on, the card you receive follows the type of periodic training on your record.

What a mix of courses does

If any of the 35 hours is a National course, you get a National Driver CPC and you cannot drive professionally in Europe on that card. International hours already on the record cannot be reused later to turn that National card into an International one. If you need to drive in Europe, do not book a National course into the same 35 hours. You can use the check your Driver CPC hours service to opt out, so a National course does not count towards the hours you are collecting for an International card.

Checking your hours

The same GOV.UK service shows how many of the 35 hours are on your record, which courses they came from, and when the next card is due. The training centre must upload the course. If a Driver CPC course is still missing five days after it ended, contact that centre. You can keep driving professionally while the card is in the post if the training is finished and the provider has recorded it. They must record it within five working days of the course ending.

If your CPC runs out

If you miss the deadline, you cannot drive a lorry professionally until the training GOV.UK requires is finished. Hours you have already completed still count for five years from the date of the course. A course taken more than five years ago does not count. Your next deadline is five years after the date you finish the training that brings you back.

Returning to professional driving

If you were qualified before and the card has expired, what you must do depends on when you got your vocational licence. The 7-hour Return to Driving CPC course is available if your Driver CPC expired less than 2 years ago. It can include 2 hours of e-learning. You can start driving professionally in the UK once you have finished it and the provider has recorded it. You must then complete a further 28 hours of Driver CPC training within 12 months. You can take a Return to Driving course only once every five years. If it expired more than 2 years ago, that course is not available. You do not repeat the initial tests, but you must complete 35 hours of Driver CPC training before you can drive professionally again.

Acquired rights means you did not have to take the initial qualification because of the vocational licence you already held. For lorries, that is a Category C, C1, C+E or C1+E licence from before 10 September 2009. If you missed the deadline, GOV.UK allows either 35 hours of periodic training, or the part 2 and part 4 tests. You can choose the tests only once. After that, periodic training is how the qualification is kept. Bus dates are different. Check your own licence date against the GOV.UK table before you choose a route.

The Driver CPC card

The card is also called a driver qualification card, or DQC. You must carry it while driving a lorry, bus or coach professionally. Driving professionally without the card can bring a £50 fixed penalty, which is separate from the fine for having no Driver CPC at all. You get the card when you have completed 35 hours or a Return to Driving course. It is sent to the address on your driving licence, using the photo and signature from your photocard. The card itself does not show your address.

If you finish the hours in the 12 months before your deadline, the new card is sent straight away. Finish more than a year early, and it is sent nearer the time the current card expires. Tell DVSA if it has not arrived within 20 days of the date it was due. You must replace a lost or stolen card. The £25 charge on GOV.UK applies if you wait more than three months to say a card has not arrived, or if it went to an old address because the licence was not updated.

When Driver CPC may not be required

You need Driver CPC if driving a lorry is the main part of the job. Some journeys are exempt, and the exemption follows that journey rather than a job title. The conditions are specific. A shorter list is not a substitute for GOV.UK’s exemption examples.

• Non-commercial carriage of passengers or goods. A private move is not the same as being paid to carry someone else’s load.
• Carrying material or equipment you will use in your own work, if driving is less than 30% of your rolling monthly working time. Delivering goods for someone else to use can still need Driver CPC.
• Driving for your own, or your employer’s, agriculture, horticulture, forestry, farming or fisheries business, on that same 30% test.
• An empty vehicle within 62 miles of your base, only if driving a lorry is not your main work, you are the only person in it, and it is empty apart from equipment permanently fixed to it.
• A journey to or from a pre-booked appointment at an official vehicle testing centre.
• Driving lessons for a licence or for Driver CPC.
• Maintaining public order when a local authority is using or controlling the vehicle, and rescue missions or states of emergency.
• A vehicle used or controlled by the armed forces, police, fire and rescue service, emergency ambulance service, or the prison service, including people running a prison or young offender institution.
• A vehicle limited to a top speed of 28mph, being road-tested for repair, maintenance or technical development, or new or rebuilt and not yet in service.

Those are the headings, not the whole test. GOV.UK’s examples show how DVSA reads them, and only a court can decide a case. “I only drive sometimes” is not itself an exemption.

Finding the training

Periodic courses have to be approved, and you take them in the country where you work or normally live. Course lengths and the Return to Driving option are on GOV.UK’s page on finding Driver CPC courses. For the initial tests and for periodic hours, search training providers and ask whether the course is National or International, how long it is, and whether the hours will be uploaded to your record. Agree that before you pay.