The following letter has been sent by email to the Prime Minister and several leading Members of Parliament.

Dear Sir/Madam

I am writing to you as Chair of NASP (National Associations Strategic Partnership) who represent over 30,000 driving instructors and rider trainers in the UK, the profession as a whole has over 40,000 government licensed individuals.

Now that test centres are closed driving instructors will inevitably be losing their pupils. We are also aware that whilst instructors have been told they can continue to work it is impossible to feasibly work with some of the social distancing advice we are being given because of the close confines in which we teach. It isn’t possible to work from home. Instructors are taking risks, potentially with their lives, because they simply cannot afford to stop teaching, they are clinging to every remaining hour of tuition they can despite the potential risks. The profession is in desperate need of help so that we can stay home without fear of how we will make ends meet and ensure that our businesses are viable once this crisis is over.

Clearly we respect you and your team are extremely busy currently but we are concerned that the measures in place from the government so far for the self-employed are nowhere near sufficient. The self-employed are largely independent, we receive little in benefits yet we contribute greatly to society. We provide essential services and we pay our taxes. We are mini-entrepreneurs who run our own businesses and help to keep unemployment levels down.
On behalf of the 30,000 plus self- employed we represent we would ask you to lend your support. We need to have the same deal that any employee has been given: 80% of our income. HMRC knows how much tax driving instructors have paid in over the years, they know what our income has been. Could this be paid to us through the tax system?
We would appreciate any advice which address these concerns. Being able to give advice to a host of small business and self-employed people through our channels would be really useful.

We are happy to liaise with your team to discuss what measures could help.

NASP is already a trusted advisor and Tier One consultative stakeholder of DVSA and DfT we are already working closely with them to offer guidance to the sector and manage any messaging.

Kind regards
Lynne Barrie MA ADI
Chair representing NASP (ADINJC, DIA and MSA GB)

We would remind you that ADINJC, DIA and MSA are Tier One consultative stakeholders of DVSA within the ADI industry and as such receive information and communications direct from the regulator to disseminate to members. It is wise to check the source and validity of any other information you see, particularly on social media, if it does not come from a professional body within the sector.