Official data · 2007–2026
Half of practical driving tests now result in a pass
The rate rose from 44.2% in 2007/08 to 50% in 2025/26 — an increase of 5.8 percentage points.
Pass rates vary by test centre
The published data includes a 2025/26 annual pass rate for 317 practical test centres across Great Britain. Select any point to inspect its total tests, passes and pass rate.
Each point represents a test centre, not an average for the surrounding area. Centre rates also reflect differences in candidates, test volumes and local conditions; they do not measure test difficulty alone. Northern Ireland is outside this dataset.
Click a map point to inspect that centre. Use the centre menu for dense urban areas, island centres or keyboard navigation.
- Under 45%
- 45% to 49.9%
- 50% to 54.9%
- 55% or higher
B33 0SD
Birmingham (Garretts Green)
2025/26 pass rate
44.4%
Compared with Great Britain: 5.6pp below the 50% national rate
- Tests conducted
- 22,480
- Tests passed
- 9,980
Postcode: B33 0SD
Rate source: DVSA table DRT122A
Rates are annual centre totals for 2025/26. Marker positions use the government’s active driving-test-centres location dataset; a centre absent from that current list is positioned from its published postcode. Find a driving test centre on GOV.UK
Car practical test pass rate by financial year
Official results for tests taken in Great Britain.
Pass rate (%)
| Financial year | Pass rate |
|---|---|
| 2007/08 | 44.2% |
| 2008/09 | 45.3% |
| 2009/10 | 45.9% |
| 2010/11 | 46.3% |
| 2011/12 | 46.9% |
| 2012/13 | 47.1% |
| 2013/14 | 47.1% |
| 2014/15 | 46.9% |
| 2015/16 | 47% |
| 2016/17 | 47.1% |
| 2017/18 | 46.3% |
| 2018/19 | 45.8% |
| 2019/20 | 45.9% |
| 2020/21 | 49.8% |
| 2021/22 | 48.9% |
| 2022/23 | 48.4% |
| 2023/24 | 47.9% |
| 2024/25 | 48.7% |
| 2025/26 | 50% |
Financial years run from April to March. Test volumes were exceptionally low during the COVID-affected 2020/21 year, so that pass rate is not directly comparable with a normal year.
Updated 25 June 2026
What the chart shows
+5.8pp
A gradual long-term increase
The latest rate is 13% higher than the first year in the series. Most annual changes were small rather than sudden.
2020/21
The pandemic year is an outlier
Only 437,352 tests were conducted in 2020/21 while restrictions disrupted testing, far below a normal year.
1,998,621
Testing reached a series high
The published data records 1,000,043 passes in 2025/26, the first time the annual total exceeded one million in this series.
How to read this data
The published series covers Great Britain — England, Scotland and Wales — not Northern Ireland. Calling it a UK rate is common shorthand, but it is not technically precise.
The rate is calculated per test, not per unique learner. A learner who retakes the practical test is counted again, so this is not a first-attempt pass rate.
The 2020/21 annual figure combines a much smaller and unusual group of tests conducted around COVID-19 restrictions. It should not be treated as evidence that the test became easier.
Data: DVSA table DRT121A · Open Government Licence v3.0 · Machine-readable JSON