Driver Vehicle Standards Agency
You can apply to the Driver and Vehichle Standards Agency (DVSA) to provide courses to drink-drive offenders to help stop them from reoffending.
Offenders can be offered a rehabilitation course to reduce their driving ban if:
- theyre found guilty of a drink-drive offence
- their ban is for 12 months or more
Their ban will be reduced if they complete the course within a certain time. The ban is usually reduced by a quarter.
Offenders guilty of drug-drive offences cannot be offered a drink-drive rehabilitation scheme course.
Make courts and lawyers aware of your course
Make sure local courts and lawyers in your approved area know about the courses you offer.
You can:
- put leaflets in court waiting rooms
- tell them how courses reduce reoffending
You should make sure that your leaflets and advertising materials accurately represent:
- the costs of the course
- the venues you use
Book offenders on to your course
The court will contact you if the offender decides to take the course. It will give a deadline for them to complete the course by. This cannot be changed.
Do not book offenders on to a course or take payment before youre contacted. Do not book them on to a course where the last session is after the deadline set by the court.
How to book the offender on to your course
Contact the offender as soon as you get the referral to tell them about your available course dates and to share your privacy notice.
Contact them again if they do not book a course to make sure they complete it before their deadline.
Provide privacy information when offenders book your course
You must provide privacy information to offenders at the time you collect their personal data from them.
You can do this using a privacy notice. This must be easy to understand and easily accessible.
You can download an .
As a data controller, youre legally responsible for making sure your actual privacy notice is accurate and explains how you collect and use data.
Check the Information Commissioners Office guidance onhow to write a privacy notice and what goes in it.
Charging fees and being paid
You can:
- charge up to 250 for a course - including a processing fee
- give a discount, for example, for people on benefits or who book early
- take a one-off payment or instalments
When your approvals confirmed youll be given a copy of the statutory guidance, that will give you more information about booking offenders onto courses.
Send joining instructions
You should send joining instructions to each offender before the course takes place. These should include:
- start and end times
- the cancellation policy
- contact details
- information about high-risk offenders
Register participants and check their identities
You need to check the identity of offenders against the court order by asking them to register their:
- address and postcode
- date of birth
- sentence details and alcohol level at the time of the offence
You can also ask for:
- a signature
- their passport
- a utility or mobile phone bill
- proof they get benefits
You need to ask offenders to sign a course register as proof of attendance at each session.
You can download an
Introduce the course
Set enough time for a welcome and introduction session. This should include:
- health and safety
- facilities
- aims and objectives
- the conduct expected
Tell participants how youll use their personal information
You must tell participants about how you collect, use, disclose, keep and dispose of their personal data. You can use a fair processing notice to do this.
Train the offenders using your approved course
You can decide how to run the course, but it must meet the learning outcomes of the drink-drive rehabilitation scheme syllabus.
Your course must be at least:
- 16 hours tuition time (not including breaks)
- 3 sessions
- spread over 14 days
Each course session must have:
- between 4 and 20 offenders
- at least one trainer for each 15 participants
Use different techniques to suit different learning styles. For example:
- group discussions
- guest speakers
- hand-outs
- role play
Make reasonable adjustments
Make reasonable adjustments for offenders with particular needs.
Its against the law to discriminate against people because of age, pregnancy, disability, race or religion.
Interpreters
An offender can bring a British Sign Language or foreign language interpreter. The interpreter must:
- be 18 or over
- be able to interpret well enough for the offender to complete the course
The interpreter can be a relative and does not have to be approved.
You should only have one interpreter per course, as having more can distract the rest of the group.
Courses in languages other than English
You can run courses in a language other than English if theres enough demand. You need a suitable trainer and translated course materials.
Changes or problems with running your course
You can make small changes to the course content and how you run it, as long as it still meets the:
- learning outcomes of the drink-drive rehabilitation course syllabus
- usual rules about course length, number of sessions, number of participants and trainers
If you need to a cancel a course
Give offenders and DVSA least 20 working days notice from the course start date.
Use the Manage your drink-drive rehabilitation centre and courses service to confirm youve cancelled the course.
If you do not have another course running before the offenders deadline, tell them to find another course.
Collect feedback and evaluate the course
You need to evaluate how well the course helps offenders to achieve the learning outcomes in the syllabus.
You need to get feedback to measure:
- how the offenders reacted to the training
- what they learned
Every offender could be starting from a different level of knowledge or attitude. So, your evaluation should focus on whether they advanced, rather than just met a certain level.