Check Your Driving Licence Points: DVLA & DVA Guide

You can check your driving licence points, what you're entitled to drive, and any current disqualification for free using an official online service. Great Britain licence holders use the DVLA's service; Northern Ireland licence holders use a separate DVA-run service through nidirect.

What Your Driving Record Shows

Your driving licence record, held by the DVLA in Great Britain or the DVA in Northern Ireland, brings together everything the licensing authority holds against your name. That includes the categories of vehicle you're entitled to drive, any penalty points (formally called endorsements) currently on your licence, and any current disqualification. It is a record of your legal driving status, not a copy of the physical licence or your photo, and it updates automatically once a court conviction or an accepted fixed penalty is reported to the licensing authority.

What You Need To Check Your Points

To check your own record through the GOV.UK service in Great Britain, have these three things ready:

• Your driving licence number (on your photocard, usually starting with the first five letters of your surname)
• Your National Insurance number
• The postcode currently registered against your licence

If any of these has changed, for example after a house move you haven't reported, the service may not be able to match your record, and you'll need to update your details with the DVLA first. Northern Ireland licence holders don't use this combination at all, see the separate section below.

How To Check Your Points In Great Britain

If your licence was issued in England, Wales or Scotland, use the DVLA's "View your driving licence information" service on GOV.UK. It's free, requires no account or login beyond the three details above, and shows your points and their codes, the vehicle categories you can drive, your licence's expiry date, and any current disqualification. You can view the result on screen or print it for your own records.

The service only covers licences issued by the DVLA. If you passed your test or hold your licence through Northern Ireland's DVA, it won't find your record, use the nidirect service instead.

Checking Your Points In Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland licensing runs through the DVA, not the DVLA, so NI licence holders check their points through a different service: "View or share your NI driving licence information" on nidirect. Instead of the licence number, National Insurance number and postcode combination used in Great Britain, this service requires a nidirect account with your identity verified. The same account also lets you link your licence so your record is shown when you apply for a licence online, and the DVA sends updates on the progress of an application. Once your identity is verified, it shows the same core information as the GB service, points, entitlements and any disqualification, and lets you generate your own check code. Queries about the service itself go to DVA Driver Licensing, and identity-verification problems go to nidirect's dedicated support address.

How To Share Your Driving Record

Sometimes someone else needs to see your points, most often an employer checking a company driver's record or a car hire firm confirming you're entitled to drive. Both the GB and NI services let you generate a licence check code for exactly this, without handing over your physical licence or letting the other party see more than they need to.

A check code:

• Is valid for 21 days from when you generate it
• Can be given to whoever needs it, along with your driving licence number, so they can look up your record through the separate "check someone's driving licence information" service
• In Great Britain, replaces the old paper counterpart to the licence, which was abolished on 8 June 2015. Northern Ireland licences still come in two parts, a photocard and a paper counterpart, so NI drivers should keep theirs

You can generate as many codes as you need, and an old code simply expires after 21 days if it isn't used. Sharing a code doesn't give the recipient ongoing access to your record, each one is a one-off snapshot valid for that window only.

Who Adds The Points, And How Long They Stay

Neither the DVLA nor the DVA decides who gets penalty points. Points are added because a court convicts you of a motoring offence, or because you accept a fixed penalty notice instead of going to court, in both cases the police or the court is the source, and the licensing authority just records the outcome against your licence. This is why an endorsement can sometimes take a few days to appear on your online record after a conviction or an accepted fixed penalty.

Once added, an endorsement stays on your record for 4 years from the date of the offence for most offences, including speeding and mobile phone offences (4 years from conviction instead if it was dangerous driving or led to a disqualification), or 11 years from the date of conviction for drink-driving and drug-driving offences. Our penalty points page covers the individual endorsement codes, how the 12-point totting-up rule works, and the stricter 6-point rule for new drivers, in full.

Checking your own record regularly is a good habit, particularly if you're a new driver close to the 6-point threshold, or if you're relying on a clean licence for work. For the offences that most commonly add points in the first place, see our guides to speeding fines and the speed awareness course offered as an alternative to points for lower-level speeding.

If a speeding offence is heading to court rather than a fixed penalty, our speeding fine calculator estimates the fine band and penalty points a magistrates' court could impose.

Checking your points takes a few minutes and costs nothing, whichever nation issued your licence. For the wider rules on how points build up and lead to disqualification, see penalty points, or visit the UK Driving Laws hub and the United Kingdom hub for our full coverage of UK motoring law.

This page is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. If you have a query about your own driving record, a disqualification, or an application, contact the DVLA or DVA directly rather than relying on general guidance.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it free to check my driving licence points?

Yes. The DVLA's View your driving licence service in Great Britain and the equivalent nidirect service for Northern Ireland licences are both free to use.

What details do I need to check my points online?

In Great Britain you need your driving licence number, your National Insurance number and the postcode registered on your licence. In Northern Ireland you instead need a nidirect account with your identity verified.

How do I let someone else see my points, like an employer or a car hire company?

Generate a licence check code through the same online service and give it to them along with your licence number. They look up your record through the separate check someone's driving licence information service. The code is valid for 21 days. In Great Britain it replaces the old paper counterpart, abolished on 8 June 2015; Northern Ireland licences still have a paper counterpart.

Does the DVLA decide who gets penalty points?

No. Points are added because a court convicts you of a motoring offence or you accept a fixed penalty notice from the police. The DVLA and DVA only record the outcome against your licence, they don't decide the offence or the number of points.

How long do points stay on my licence?

Most endorsements stay on your record for 4 years from the date of the offence. Drink-driving and drug-driving endorsements stay on your record for 11 years from the date of conviction.

I hold a Northern Ireland driving licence, can I use the GOV.UK DVLA service?

No. Northern Ireland licences are issued by the DVA, not the DVLA, so the GOV.UK view driving licence service won't find your record. Use the nidirect View or share your NI driving licence information service instead.

Can I check someone else's points without them giving me a code?

No. You need the check code they generate plus their driving licence number. Without both, there's no way to look up another person's points or disqualification status.