DVLA staff ‘boasted of watching Netflix on full pay’ during Covid pandemic

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Staff at the DVLA joked about watching Netflix at home and hundreds were not expected to do any work for periods during the Covid pandemic while on full pay, according to reports.

Around 3,400 staff were put on special leave during the first lockdown meaning they did not have to work at all, while the figure was still nearly 2,000 months later,The Times reported.

Managers said they spent days watching TV boxsets in bed, according to the newspaper.

The DVLA has come under scrunity over delays in processing driving licence applications - which it has blamed on industrial action and Covid social distancing measures.

It has faced pressure from a union to keep the number of staff in its offices down, after concerns were raised following a number of Covid cases.

The Times sent an undercover reporter into the DVLA and said they were told in training a large proportion of staff had not been expected to work from home during the pandemic despite being on full pay, as they could not access the necessary systems.

A training manager is reported to have joked about avoiding work at home in saying: “My manager would be messaging me, can you do this? and I’d be like, you’re interrupting my series on Netflix.”

The newspaper said staff were demoralised by colleagues who were on special paid leave due to health conditions making them vulnerable who were “not doing any work” but still “out and about mingling with others and going on holiday”.

Special paid leave was reportedly given to staff classed as vulnerable, isolating due to close contacts or with caring responsabilities.

A spokesperson for the DVLA said: “We take the allegations made extremely seriously and are urgently investigating.”

They added: “These claims are not representative of the hardworking culture in DVLA, nor are they a true reflection of the 6,000 plus staff who have worked incredibly hard to help keep the country moving throughout the pandemic.”

Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, has reportedly launched an investigation in the wake of the report.

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “We take these allegations extremely seriously and have asked the DVLA to report back on its investigation as soon as possible.

“However, many of these claims are simply not true. Ministers receive weekly backlog statistics and the DVLA has continued to process 97 per cent of its applications digitally, while halving the remaining paper backlog despite strict pandemic restrictions and union demands.”