I've just been sent a link to this reddit thread "when will booking tests be normal again ?"
There's a great explanation here, but it's depressing.
"There's a few factors playing here.
For one, there's still an enormous backlog at DVSA (it was around half a million tests waiting by the end of last year), and that has two reasons:
- Most of the examiners either retired or quit during/immediately after the pandemic (there is a reason DVSA still trying to recruit examiners, but no one wants to do it...), and
- DVSA pretty much ran out of money during the pandemic thanks to the furlough, and they're trying to get that money back by failing more pupils than ever (more failed test means more rebooked tests, which is more money...).
There's a fresh survey conducted by AA in which DVSA claims that passing rates hasn't really changed compared to previous years, but then again, they also claim that the problem is that more and more unprepared pupils are doing tests and are failing. It's either this or that, both statements can't be true.
That being said, the problem of unprepared pupils is a thing, but it's not that simple.
For example, driving schools and instructors raised their prices due to the cost of living crisis, and that obviously affects both parties. Instructors need more money to upkeep their cars, and pupils need more money to take lessons, but because pupils barely have enough money for themselves, insturcors income dropped significantly, so they kept raising prices, which made pupils taking less and less hours, and so on and forth.
Thanks to that and the backlog, some pupils are booking tests any time and anywhere they can find, with less and less practice, so they have a bigger chance to fail, especially if you add the factor that they're getting more and more nervous about failing their tests, because it's a nightmare to find another one, and this vicious circle just gets worst day by day.
And then there's the fact that DVSA is trying to pretty much pressure people to take lessons with their friends/family due to the instructor shortage, there's a whole campaign going on for months now with guidance for friends and family about how to teach their pupils to drive, and that makes more unprepared pupils, so you can see the pattern here.
The solution isn't that difficult, but because DVSA is absolutely thrilled by the fact that the more people fails, the more money they get, they obviously don't want to fix the problem.
There was a proposal last year to abolish the 2 weeks waiting period between tests, offering free tests in a lottery system, expanding theory test expiration dates, and be a bit more lenient on practical tests by considering the mental toll on pupils, they refused all of them because it wouldn't be safe. It is clear that DVSA can't be arsed about the backlog, the instructor shortage, the mental toll, the cost of living crisis, or basically anything led to this situation, and it won't change until the government force them to do anything, so to answer your question, it won't be back to normal in the foreseeable future. Waiting for it would be a mistake, so try to take a deep breath and do as much as you can to secure a test date and take as many lessons as you can."