The Department for Transport (DfT) is consulting on introducing a Minimum Learning Period of three or six months. This period would count all driving practice, including informal supervised practice and professional lessons, before a learner can book a practical test. The aim is to ensure learner drivers build more experience in a range of conditions and make safer transitions to independent driving. 

The consultation also includes mandated learning hours and a structured learning syllabus to standardise preparation before testing. This is intended to give learners more time behind the wheel in different traffic, weather and daylight conditions before being tested. 

The strategy targets a 65% reduction in road deaths and serious injuries by 2035, with a 70% reduction target for children under 16. It follows stagnating progress in casualty reduction in recent years and adopts the internationally recognised Safe System approach, which shares responsibility for safety between road design, vehicles, enforcement, education and behaviour.

Government data show that drivers aged 17 to 24 make up around 6% of licence holders but were involved in about 24% of fatal and serious collisions in 2024, accentuating the disproportionate risk carried by younger, less experienced drivers. The MLP is proposed as one part of addressing this imbalance. 

Other measures in the strategy include consultations on lowering drink-drive limits, mandatory eyesight tests for older drivers, and broader reforms aimed at improving road safety behaviour and enforcement. 

The MLP proposals remain subject to consultation, with responses invited through the government’s consultation process. If implemented, they would mark a significant shift in how learner driver training and testing are regulated in Great Britain.