{"id":15839,"date":"2014-06-23T14:46:35","date_gmt":"2014-06-23T13:46:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=15839"},"modified":"2014-06-23T14:46:35","modified_gmt":"2014-06-23T13:46:35","slug":"cost-of-theory-test-to-fall-by-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=15839","title":{"rendered":"Cost Of Theory Test To Fall By 25%"},"content":{"rendered":"

They put this out for consultation a few months ago<\/a>. Amongst various things, they were asking for opinions about cutting the price of the Theory Test, which currently costs a mere \u00a331 (well, a bit more if you\u2019re stupid and pay for it via a scam site).\"Theory<\/p>\n

In my response, I made it clear that as far I was concerned the current price was fine as it was. Unfortunately, someone somewhere is after votes for next year\u2019s General Election and dropping the price is the chestnut they were going to roast come hell or high water. The \u201cconsultation\u201d was just a pointless exercise to show that they \u201clisten\u201d to the public.<\/p>\n

As you can see in the DVSA email alert I linked to above:<\/p>\n

The cost of the driving theory test will be cut by 25%, saving learner drivers over \u00a3100 million over the next 9 years.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Let\u2019s just set the record straight here. That \u201c\u00a3100 million over the next 9 years\u201d is going to be split between around 13 million tests. It isn\u2019t going to save ANY learner more than \u00a38 for each time they attempt the test. That doesn\u2019t look anywhere near as vote worthy, does it? A mere \u00a38 versus \u00a3100 million. It\u2019s also going to be phased, with \u00a36 coming off this October, and another \u00a32 next year.<\/p>\n

And don\u2019t even get me started on how it doesn\u2019t save anyone anything if they never had to pay the higher fee in the first place. That\u2019s like saying that when I go out and buy a pocket calculator for \u00a35, I am saving over \u00a380 because of how much they used to cost when they first came out. I\u2019m not saving anything.<\/p>\n

The real point is that the theory test lasts about 90 minutes, which breaks down to around \u00a321 per hour. Allowing for building rent, systems maintenance, staff salaries (at least two staff), and so on, it is hard to see how the test can possibly be maintained for even \u00a321 an hour, let alone \u00a315 instead. I know enough about outsourcing to understand the true costs involved, and someone somewhere is ultimately losing money on this – or they will if the market shifts unpredictably in the medium term future.<\/p>\n

Alastair Peoples can go on forever about having \u201csecured\u201d a lower price for the outsourcing contract (from which one must conclude that Pearson VUE has lost the contract, or else what the hell were they charging for up until now?) It is Stephen Hammond – LibCon Transport Minister – on a vote hunt which is at the root:<\/p>\n

We want to keep costs down for all motorists \u2013 that\u2019s why we have frozen fuel duty \u2013 and by reducing the cost of the theory test we will save aspiring motorists around \u00a39 million annually.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As I say, it\u2019s total bollocks. No one is saving \u201c\u00a39 million annually\u201d. Each learner will save a mere \u00a36 (going up to \u00a38 in 18 months\u2019 time) each time they take a test – and even then, if they turn 17 after<\/strong> the price falls, they have saved NOTHING. <\/strong>The only positive thing is that someone somewhere else is going to have to squander \u00a39 million less than they have been doing previously.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They put this out for consultation a few months ago. Amongst various things, they were asking for opinions about cutting the price of the Theory Test, which currently costs a mere \u00a331 (well, a bit more if you\u2019re stupid and pay for it via a scam site). In my response, I made it clear that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[80,81,84,87,92],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adi-related","category-driving-test-related","category-dvsa-related","category-news","category-transport"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t