How does your condition affect applying for a provisional licence?
Some health conditions must be declared when you apply for your provisional licence; others do not need to be. In England, Scotland and Wales, use the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) health conditions A to Z. In Northern Ireland, use the Driver and Vehicle Agency (DVA) medical-condition guidance.
Check medical guidance at GOV.UK
Check medical guidance at nidirect
DVLA or DVA decides whether you meet the medical requirements for a licence. Your doctor can advise how your condition or medication could affect safe driving. A driving instructor helps you learn. You may need advice from more than one, but declaring a condition does not automatically mean you need an adapted car.
Check the rule for your condition
These examples cover England, Scotland and Wales. For your condition, use the DVLA or DVA guidance linked above.
- ADHD or autism: the diagnosis alone does not usually need to be declared by a learner. Tell DVLA if your doctor says your ADHD or ADHD medication, or your autism, affects your ability to drive safely.
- Anxiety or depression: tell DVLA if the condition affects safe driving. If it does not, you do not need to report it. Check the guidance for anxiety or depression, and ask your doctor if unsure. Other mental health conditions have different rules, so do not apply this answer to every diagnosis.
- Learning disabilities and dyslexia: these are not the same thing. DVLA says you must report a learning disability that affects safe driving. Dyslexia itself does not need to be reported. Its learning disabilities guidance explains the distinction.
Do not drive if your symptoms or medication make it unsafe. Before starting lessons, ask your doctor whether medication you take could affect driving and whether you need to tell DVLA or DVA. This applies whatever condition the medication is for.
Meet the eyesight requirements
You must wear glasses or contact lenses whenever you drive if you need them to meet the eyesight standard. Reading a modern number plate from 20 metres is one requirement, alongside other vision standards. If you are unsure, ask an optometrist before arranging lessons.
How do you declare a health condition when applying?
Answer the health questions on your provisional licence application and give the condition details requested. Apply to DVLA in England, Scotland and Wales, or DVA in Northern Ireland. For a first DVLA application, you do not automatically need to contact DVLA separately as well. In Northern Ireland, the DVA application guidance explains the health declaration.
- Complete the medical forms you are sent. DVLA may request a further questionnaire. In Northern Ireland, DVA says it will send a medical form for you or your doctor to complete after you tell it about a condition. Give the requested GP or consultant details and sign the consent declaration so medical information can be obtained.
- Provide any further evidence requested. A GP letter is not a standard first step for every applicant. Follow DVLA’s or DVA’s instructions: they may need information from your doctor or further checks before deciding on your licence.
- Wait for your first licence before driving on the road. When it arrives, check the date you can start driving a car and follow any licence restrictions. You can enquire about suitable tuition and prepare for theory while waiting.
Allow time for medical checks before committing to lesson dates. DVLA says medical applications usually take six weeks, and longer if referred to a doctor. In Northern Ireland, DVA aims to decide within three to four weeks if the information originally supplied is sufficient; further enquiries take longer. This is a decision target, not a guaranteed licence delivery date.
Our provisional licence guide covers the ordinary application details.
What restrictions could your provisional licence have?
Your provisional licence may have a medical time limit, meaning you need to renew it sooner, or restrictions requiring you to use particular controls. You could have one or both.
A shorter medical licence might last one, two or three years, so you could need to renew it while still learning. A controls restriction means you must use a car with the controls specified for you. Check your licence and decision letter for what applies, and follow the renewal instructions in good time.
What if your application is refused?
If your application is refused, read the reason in the decision letter and discuss it with your doctor. There may be options to provide further evidence, reapply or appeal: follow DVLA’s decision guidance or DVA’s separate process.
What if your condition changes while learning?
The reporting rules still apply after you receive your provisional licence, including while you are learning. If you develop a new health condition, or a condition you have gets worse, check the DVLA or DVA guidance to see whether you must tell them. Do not wait until you pass your test.
Can you start learning to drive at 16?
Most people can start car lessons at 17. You can start at 16 if you receive the enhanced rate of the mobility component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP). Standard-rate mobility or a daily living award alone does not qualify you for this earlier start.
There are also routes through these benefits:
- In Scotland, enhanced-rate mobility Adult Disability Payment (ADP) or higher-rate mobility Child Disability Payment (CDP).
- In England, Scotland and Wales, having applied for PIP after previously receiving higher-rate mobility Disability Living Allowance (DLA), as set out in DVLA’s licence guidance.
- In Northern Ireland, currently receiving higher-rate mobility DLA also qualifies, alongside the enhanced-rate PIP mobility route above.
DLA still matters for some young learners: a child’s DLA can continue after their 16th birthday while their PIP claim is being assessed, provided they apply by the deadline in their invitation letter. See GOV.UK’s guidance on DLA at 16.
When applying for your provisional licence, make clear that you want to learn to drive a car at 16 through a qualifying disability benefit. Follow the instructions about benefit evidence; DVA’s application guidance explains the NI route.
When your provisional licence arrives, check that its car entitlement starts at 16. Wait until that date before driving on the road. You must also meet the medical and eyesight requirements.
If you lose your qualifying benefit or it is reassessed at a lower rate while you are 16, you must tell DVLA, as this may affect your entitlement to drive. For a Northern Ireland licence, contact DVA about the change.
Could a driving assessment help you?
A driving assessment can help if you are unsure which car controls or support would help you learn. You do not automatically need one because you have a disability or health condition.
What can a driving assessment help with?
Driving Mobility brings together accredited assessment centres across the UK, including independent charities and NHS services. Your local centre may have a different name. You arrange the assessment with that centre directly; Driving Mobility is separate from DVLA and the Motability Scheme.
For a beginner, a centre may offer a potential-to-learn assessment: you are not expected to arrive ready for a driving test. It explores how you could learn and what support may help.
A driving assessment can help you work out which controls you can use comfortably and safely. Depending on your needs, you may be able to try hand controls, a steering aid or a left-foot accelerator.
If you have a limb difference or use a wheelchair, the assessment can also explore how you would get into and use the car for lessons. This could include transferring into the driving seat or driving from your wheelchair in a suitably adapted vehicle.
Some centres also help with learning, communication or driving-related anxiety. Contact the centre before booking, explain what you need help with and ask whether it offers a suitable assessment.
An assessment may include checks of your eyesight, movement and how you process information, followed by trying controls in a simulator or car. It helps identify your needs; it does not replace your eventual driving test.
Can you have an assessment before getting your provisional licence?
An assessment can take place before or after your provisional licence is issued. The reason for the assessment and what it includes determine the arrangements.
- Before your licence is issued: DVLA or DVA may request an assessment to help decide your application. Follow the instructions you receive. You can also contact a centre yourself, even before applying, to ask what it can assess at that stage.
- After your licence is issued: you can arrange an assessment to explore suitable controls, adaptations or learning support before booking lessons.
Tell the centre whether you have a provisional car licence. If you do not, the centre will explain which parts of the assessment it can offer and whether a special assessment licence needs arranging through DVLA. In Northern Ireland, follow DVA’s instructions.
How do you arrange an assessment?
The centre finder covers England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Find a driving assessment centre with Driving Mobility
When you contact the centre, explain that you have not learned to drive yet. Ask:
- Can you assess the particular difficulties I am concerned about?
- Can I book directly, or does a doctor or another professional need to ask for the assessment on my behalf? This is called a referral.
- Can you assess me before my provisional licence is issued, and what would the appointment include?
- What does the assessment cost, and is funding available?
- Where would the assessment take place, and how long is the wait?
- If needed, can you help me work out how to get into the driving seat and get my wheelchair or mobility scooter into the car, as well as assess suitable controls?
Some centres have smaller local sites with fewer facilities, so check that the location you book offers the assessment you need.
How do you arrange suitable driving lessons?
If you have an assessment, discuss its recommendations with your driving instructor. If you do not need an assessment, you can contact a driving instructor directly to discuss suitable lessons.
Look for a driving instructor with experience of the support you need. Teaching with hand controls and helping someone process instructions are different skills; ask about your needs rather than relying on a general “disability-friendly” description. Our guide to choosing a driving instructor explains the general checks before booking.
Disability Driving Instructors has a directory with area and requirements filters.
Find a driving instructor with relevant experience
Assessment centres may also suggest tuition. In Northern Ireland, nidirect’s guidance points to Disability Action’s service.
Find driving tuition support in Northern Ireland at nidirect
How can a driving instructor adapt lessons to help you?
When contacting a driving instructor, explain what helps you learn. For example: “I find it easier if someone shows me first, then lets me try” or “Please give me one instruction at a time.” Ask how they could adapt their lessons to suit you.
If you need longer to process directions, ask the instructor to give them early enough for you to prepare. They could explain a junction using a diagram while you are parked, then guide you through it and give you time to try again.
If knowing what comes next helps you feel comfortable, ask for a short plan at the start of each lesson. Agree how to ask for a break if you feel overwhelmed, so the instructor can help you stop somewhere safe. Choose what helps you, rather than assuming everyone with ADHD, autism or a mental health condition needs the same approach.
If you are deaf or hard of hearing, agree how the instructor will give directions while you are driving. Ask them to explain anything that needs lip-reading or signing while you are parked, so you can give it your attention safely. If pain, fatigue or concentration could make a long lesson difficult, discuss shorter sessions or planned breaks.
Manual or automatic, and will you need adapted controls?
Any car you drive must meet the requirements on your licence. If it specifies particular controls, you must use them during lessons, practice between lessons and after passing your test.
If your licence allows you to learn in either a manual or an automatic, you can choose whichever suits you better. If a driving assessment recommends an automatic, take that recommendation into account.
An automatic changes gear for you and has no clutch pedal. This can make learning more manageable if operating the controls or doing several things at once is difficult. Having ADHD or autism does not mean you have to choose an automatic.
If you need help finding suitable controls, a driving assessment can give you an opportunity to try adaptations and find out what works for you. For example:
- Hand controls let you accelerate and brake using your hands instead of your feet.
- A steering aid can make the steering wheel easier to grip or turn.
- A left-foot accelerator lets you accelerate with your left foot rather than your right.
Many adaptations are fitted to automatic cars. The assessment report can tell you which controls to look for in the car you use for lessons or practice between lessons.
The car you pass your test in affects what your full licence allows you to drive. Passing in an automatic gives you an automatic-only licence. If you pass in a car adapted because of your disability, your full licence will specify the adaptations you must use. These restrictions appear as codes on your licence. Our manual or automatic guide explains the manual and automatic choice in more detail.
What should you arrange before booking driving lessons?
If you hope to get help paying for lessons, read about Motability Foundation lesson grants before committing to a booking.
- The car: can the driving instructor teach you in the manual, automatic or adapted car you need? Ask whether they provide the car or can teach you in your own. Try getting in and out and adjusting the seat. If you bring a wheelchair or mobility scooter, agree how it will fit in the car and be loaded. You do not need to buy equipment to learn in an instructor’s suitably adapted car.
- The insurance: when you learn in the instructor’s car, the instructor arranges the insurance for your lessons. If you will use your own car, ask your insurer to confirm that your policy covers paid driving lessons, as well as private practice.
- The lesson arrangements: agree a regular lesson slot and where you will meet. Can the instructor collect you from home, or will you need to travel to an assessment centre or another meeting point? Agree this whether you use their car or yours.
- The price and terms: ask what the lesson price includes, how long each lesson lasts and how breaks work. Read the cancellation terms before paying for a set of lessons in advance, often called a block booking.
If you cannot find suitable lessons nearby, ask the instructors you contact or your assessment centre about waiting lists and instructors covering a wider area. Include the cost of travelling to lessons in your budget, and consider whether the journey could leave you tired before the lesson starts.
If a parent or carer helps you arrange lessons, decide what you would like them to help with. For example, they could help explain the support you need or organise lesson times. The driving instructor should still involve you directly and listen to what works for you.
Can PIP or other benefits help you lease a car and pay for lessons?
A qualifying mobility benefit can give you access to a Motability Scheme car. Help with driving lessons is a separate grant with additional requirements.
Using your mobility allowance for a Motability Scheme car
The Motability Scheme lets you use your qualifying mobility allowance to lease a car. You are paying for its use through your allowance, rather than buying it to keep. Motability Operations is the company that runs the Scheme. The Motability Foundation is the charity that oversees it and considers applications for financial help, including lesson grants. See how the organisations fit together.
To join the Scheme using PIP, you need the enhanced rate of the mobility component, with at least 12 months remaining on your award. Standard-rate mobility or daily living alone does not qualify. Other accepted benefits include higher-rate DLA mobility and the qualifying Scottish disability payments; check the Scheme’s allowance list.
The mobility component of PIP can be awarded for difficulties planning or following journeys, as well as difficulties moving around. Your benefit award and its rate determine Scheme eligibility, rather than the diagnosis alone.
Getting help with adaptations for a Motability Scheme car
Discuss the adaptations you need before ordering your Scheme car. Many cost nothing extra when ordered with the car; others have an additional charge. Ask for the cost of the equipment and fitting you need.
If you cannot afford the required car or adaptations, the Motability Foundation may offer a grant towards the Scheme vehicle and adaptation costs. This can include adaptations that cost extra or an upfront payment for the car. Apply and wait for the Foundation’s decision before ordering.
Can the Motability Foundation pay for your driving lessons?
The Motability Foundation offers a grant for up to 40 hours of driving lessons. Receiving enhanced-rate PIP mobility does not give you free driving lessons on its own. To apply for the Motability Foundation’s lesson grant, you must also be a Motability Scheme customer with a vehicle, or one arriving within four months.
You must also:
- Hold a provisional UK licence and have passed theory.
- Receive an accepted means-tested benefit, such as Universal Credit. These benefits depend on financial circumstances.
PIP mobility provides one route into the Scheme; Universal Credit can meet the additional financial requirement for lessons. Neither alone guarantees a grant.
If you study full-time and are under 25, you may qualify without receiving a means-tested benefit yourself. Your parent or guardian must receive an accepted means-tested benefit.
You must still be the Motability Scheme customer, qualifying through your own mobility award, for example, enhanced-rate PIP mobility. You must also meet the other lesson-grant requirements, including holding a provisional licence and passing your theory test.
To receive a Motability Foundation grant for lessons in an adapted car, you need a driving assessment. Include the report if you have already had one. If unsure about adaptations, ask Motability Operations, the company that runs the Scheme, for an assessment referral before applying for the grant. This assessment requirement applies to funded lessons in an adapted car, not every lesson-grant applicant.
If the Foundation approves your grant, AA Driving School arranges the funded lessons and finds a suitable instructor. Give AA any licence requirements and assessment recommendations so they can arrange tuition in a suitable car. The lessons must be completed within 12 months. Test fees are excluded; extra lessons may cost you.
The Foundation’s lesson-grant guidance applies across the UK, including Northern Ireland.
Check lesson-grant eligibility and how to apply
Whose car can you use to practise between lessons?
You can practise in your own car or someone else’s. If your provisional licence requires an automatic car or particular adapted controls, the car you practise in must have them.
- Your own car: if your car needs adaptations, tell the adaptations installer which controls your licence requires, and show them your driving assessment report if you have one. Before buying a car or booking fitting, ask them to confirm that the equipment is suitable for the car and quote for supplying and fitting it.
- A family member’s or friend’s car: arrange any adaptations with the owner and an adaptations installer. As you will be sharing the car, check how the controls will work for each driver and whether the owner can still drive it comfortably and safely.
- Your own Motability Scheme car: arrange any adaptations when ordering, or contact Motability before changing a car you already have. The lease includes insurance, and you must be named on it as a learner driver.
- Someone else’s Motability Scheme car: you must be over 21 to be added as a provisional driver to the car’s insurance, which is included in the lease. If adaptations are needed, the person with the Scheme car lease must discuss these with Motability before arranging fitting.
Check the Scheme’s learner-driver rules before arranging practice in a Scheme car.
If you need to find an adaptations installer, ask your assessment centre to suggest suppliers or use the Motability adaptations installer finder. If the car is outside the Scheme, tell the installer you need a private quote.
Our private-practice guide explains who can supervise you and the rules for practising between lessons.
How do you arrange insurance for practice between lessons?
Arrange insurance that covers you practising in the car you will use. Tell the insurer about any adaptations fitted to the car so they can confirm the policy covers you driving it. How you arrange the insurance depends on whose car it is.
Which insurance arrangement fits the car you will use?
- Your own car: arrange your own car insurance policy covering you as a learner driver.
- Someone else’s car, sharing their policy: the owner’s insurance covers their driving, and they arrange for you to be added as a named learner driver. This may increase their premium, and a claim could affect their no-claims discount.
- Someone else’s car, separate learner insurance: the owner keeps their usual policy for their driving. You buy a separate learner policy covering you while you practise in their car. Choose a policy that protects the owner’s no-claims discount from claims under your learner cover.
- A Motability Scheme car: insurance is included in the lease. You must be approved and named on that policy as a learner driver, whether it is your Scheme car or someone else’s. The Scheme says your supervisor should also be named on its insurance certificate.
Your supervising driver must be at least 21 and have held a suitable full driving licence for at least three years. Some learner insurance policies require supervisors to be 25 or older, so choose a policy that accepts your supervisor. For a Motability Scheme car, the Scheme says your supervisor must be over 21 and have held a full licence for at least three years.
Your supervisor does not need driving insurance simply to sit beside you, but they must meet your learner policy’s supervising-driver conditions. If they will drive the car themselves, including taking over during practice, they must be insured to do so.
Our learner-driver insurance guide explains the insurance options in more detail.
What will insurers ask about your health and provisional licence?
When you apply for learner-driver insurance, you may be asked about health conditions that DVLA or DVA needs to know about and any medical time limit on your licence. Have your provisional licence and any decision letter ready so you can answer accurately.
The questions and answer options vary between providers. For example, a comparison form may ask:
“Do you have any medical conditions or disabilities that the DVLA needs to be notified of?”
If you answer yes, you may see options such as:
- DVLA Aware – No Restrictions
- DVLA – Restricted 1 Year
- DVLA – Restricted 2 Years
- DVLA – Restricted 3 Years
- DVLA Unaware
- Doctor Advised Not To Drive
“Restricted 1, 2 or 3 years” means your licence was issued for that period on medical grounds. It does not mean how long you have held it or how much time remains before renewal.
When you choose a quote and continue to the insurer, review your details and answer any further questions before buying. You may be able to complete the purchase online without speaking to anyone. If any details are wrong or unclear, contact the insurer or broker before paying.
What support can you get for your driving tests?
You can ask for support with reading, communication or following instructions during your theory or practical test. Tell the test service what you need when arranging your booking. The support helps you take the test; the pass standard stays the same.
Theory test support in England, Scotland and Wales
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) runs the tests. Tell DVSA what support you need when booking your theory test. Options include:
- Reading support: you can request headphones to hear the questions and possible answers. Other support can include extra time, someone to read the questions and record your answers, or someone to explain the wording. A helper can record the answer you give, but cannot choose it for you.
- Support if you are deaf or hard of hearing: use on-screen British Sign Language (BSL), or request a BSL interpreter at no extra charge. Hearing loops and lip speakers can also be arranged.
For extra reading support beyond headphones, DVSA will ask for evidence of your reading difficulty. This could be a letter or report from a teacher, doctor or occupational therapist, or an online dyslexia screening result. DVSA will then confirm the support it can arrange.
Check how to request theory test support
The guidance explains what evidence to provide. If you need support that is not covered here, contact DVSA before booking to explain what would help you take the test.
Our theory test day guide explains what happens at each stage.
Practical driving test support in England, Scotland and Wales
Tell DVSA about your disability, health condition or learning difficulty when booking your practical test. The examiner can adjust how the test is delivered, but you must meet the same driving standard to pass.
- Adaptations and instructions: you will have time to discuss your disability and car adaptations with the examiner. They may also allow more time for instructions and directions.
- If you are deaf or hard of hearing: the examiner can explain the test using written notes and agree hand signals for directions. They will face you if you lip-read. You can bring a BSL interpreter aged 16 or over. You arrange and pay for the interpreter, then claim the cost back. Your driving instructor can be your BSL interpreter if they can provide that support.
- Learning difficulties: the examiner may offer adjustments to independent driving, such as following traffic signs instead of a sat nav.
- Reading difficulties: you can write down the number plate during the eyesight check instead of reading it aloud. You must still meet the eyesight standard.
Check practical driving test support
The guidance explains the arrangements and how to claim interpreter expenses.
You can take your practical test in your own car, with adapted controls if you need them. The car must meet the rules for using your own car for a driving test, including insurance that covers the test and an extra interior mirror for the examiner.
You can take your driving test in your own Motability Scheme car. You can only use someone else’s Scheme car for your test if you are their officially appointed benefits representative. Being insured to practise in someone else’s Scheme car does not, on its own, allow you to take your test in it.
Our practical test day guide explains the test itself and what to bring.
Tests in Northern Ireland
Arrange support through DVA.