A PDI is working through three DVSA tests: part 1 (theory and hazard perception), part 2 (driving ability) and part 3 (instructional ability). Parts 2 and 3 must both be passed within two years of the part 1 pass. Three attempts at part 3 are allowed, and a third failure ends that run: paid instruction must stop immediately, and the whole process can only be started again two years after the original part 1 pass. After a part 3 pass, registration has to be applied for within 12 months, otherwise all three tests must be taken again. Fees listed on GOV.UK in September 2026 are £81 for part 1, £111 each for parts 2 and 3, and £300 for the first ADI certificate, with registration renewable every four years at £300.
The trainee driving instructor licence, commonly called the pink licence in the trade, is what allows a PDI to charge pupils before qualifying. Applicants must have passed part 1 within the previous two years, passed part 2, and completed at least 40 hours of training with a qualified ADI, at least 10 hours of it in a car, recorded on form ADI 21T. The licence costs £140 (GOV.UK, September 2026) and lasts six months. It must be displayed on the nearside edge of the front windscreen while lessons are given. It carries the name and address of the training establishment, and instruction may only be given from there, which rules out trading independently or running a school of your own while holding one.
Applicants pick one of two routes when they apply, and the choice cannot be changed afterwards. Under the supervision route, the sponsoring ADI supervises 20 per cent of all lessons the trainee gives during the licence period, logged on form ADI 21S, signed by both parties and returned to DVSA when the licence ends. Under the training route, the trainee completes at least 20 hours of further training within three months of the licence being issued and before booking part 3, with at least 25 per cent of it practical in-car training, declared on the instructor training declaration form. Under either route, a failed part 3 attempt requires five more hours of training, recorded on a fresh declaration, before the next attempt.
The licence stops at six months and paid instruction stops with it. A further licence means a fresh application and a fresh fee, and DVSA states that one is unlikely to be granted where the only reason is more time for part 3, or where the earlier conditions were not met. The registrar can also withdraw a licence for a breach of its conditions, for issue by mistake or fraud, or after a third part 3 failure, in which case the licence becomes invalid on the day. Pupils mid-course, unused prepaid lesson balances and booked practical test dates all need moving to a qualified ADI before the licence lapses.
Treat the six-month expiry as a hard date the system has to know about. Look for an instructor record that stores licence type and expiry with a reminder weeks ahead, and the ability to close new bookings for that instructor from a chosen date, so no pupil is charged for a lesson given without a valid licence. Check that lesson history can be filtered by instructor and exported, since the supervision route needs 20 per cent of lessons evidenced on ADI 21S and the training route needs hours logged. Because the licence ties the trainee to the school's name and address, check what your automated pupil emails, SMS and any public instructor profile actually display: software that puts an individual instructor's own mobile number, trading name or personal booking page in front of pupils works against that condition. Test reassignment before you commit, since moving a pupil, their remaining prepaid balance and their booked test date across to another instructor should take a few clicks and leave the credit intact. Look too at how the pricing plan counts a trainee on a six-month licence, and whether an instructor can be deactivated mid-term.
Rules, fees and time limits are taken from DVSA guidance on GOV.UK (trainee driving instructor licence rules, ADI part 3 test, ADI fees) and were checked on 6 September 2026; DVSA revises fees and procedures periodically, so confirm current figures before relying on them.