At the end of 2007 the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) carried out a consultation on various aspects of the Driver CPC. Part of this consultation looked at the cost of course approval. It was decided that approval for courses lasting five days should not be charged at the same rate as approval for a one-day course that would then be run each year for five years.

The option of one-day training per year was the route apparently suggested by stakeholders as industry best practice. The cost implications of running the courses in this way would differ greatly, as would the income received by the training providers, and therefore the DSA set a charge of £36 per hour of training.

As a result of the changes Skills for Logistics (SfL) have introduced a significant increase in the amount companies have to pay to obtain an approved course. Prior to the changes the cost of a course assessed by SfL was £250 regardless of the length of training but this is now based on an hourly rate of £36 per hour.

Some training companies are now claiming the changes will make them incur nearly a £1000 increase to register a course for compliancy to the training syllabus, this is an upfront cost without any guarantee that SfL will approve the course. Those extra costs will have to pass on to customers.

For new goods vehicle drivers, the initial qualification is required from 9 September 2009 and existing drivers must complete 35 hours of training by 2014 all in accordance with The Vehicle Drivers (Certificates of Professional Competence) (Amendment) Regulations 2008.