Abolition of the paper counterpart to the photocard driving licence had been expected at the turn of the year, but the DVLA has now delayed the move until 8 June 2015.

The counterpart was introduced in 1998 as part of the photocard driving licence to display information that could not be included on the photocard. That includes holders’ driving entitlement categories and current endorsements/penalty points.

Many employers continue to undertake licence checks internally themselves by looking at the document, but the Government’s decision to axe the paper counterpart means that will no longer be possible.

Instead, the DVLA is planning to introduce a free of charge online service for employers to check the validity of employees’ driving licences. It has said that the service is currently in development and will be available before the counterpart is abolished.

While exact details of the how the DVLA’s service will function have yet to be announced, it is understood that database access will be on an individual driver basis.

Jaama managing director Martin Evans believes the administrative burden that will cause employers will result in the company winning more driver licence checking business.

Evans said: ‘Organisations that already use Jaama for driver licence checking will continue to benefit from a hugely efficient service even when the DVLA launches its own offering.

‘What’s more, the DVLA service will, we believe prove to be administratively time consuming as each employees’ driver licence record will have to be accessed individually. With best practice determining that checks are carried out quarterly on employees with a large number of points on their licence, the whole process is likely to be a major burden for many employers.’