The Delivery Driver Onboarding Checklist: What to Check Before Day One

Every operator wants new drivers on the road quickly. The ones who get into trouble are the ones who get them on the road quickly and skip a check on the way. A missed right to work check or an unchecked licence does not show up on day one. It shows up at an audit, after an accident, or in a letter from the Home Office.

This is the checklist we would want every UK delivery operator to work through before a new driver's first shift, whether you run DPD, Evri, Yodel, Royal Mail or Amazon work, and whether your drivers are employed or self-employed.

1. Identity and right to work

This is the one with the biggest penalty attached. Employers who cannot show a valid right to work check face a civil penalty of up to £45,000 per illegal worker for a first breach, and up to £60,000 for repeat breaches.

How you check depends on the person:

• British and Irish citizens: check the original passport in person, or use a certified digital identity provider to verify it remotely.
• Everyone else: use the Home Office online service. The driver gets a share code from gov.uk, and you use it to view their right to work details. Share codes last 90 days.
• Biometric residence permits are gone. Physical BRPs were replaced by eVisas, so do not accept a card as proof. Check online instead.

Keep a dated record of every check. Without the record, you have no defence, even if the check was done.

Self-employed drivers: the government has announced that right to work checks are being extended to self-employed and gig economy workers, which takes in most owner-drivers. Many delivery networks already insist on them from their contractors. Treat the check as mandatory for everyone, and check gov.uk for the date the new rules apply to you.

2. Driving licence

Never rely on a photocopy. Ask the driver to generate a check code through the DVLA's View or share your driving licence service. You enter the code with the last eight characters of their licence number and see their entitlements, points and any disqualifications. Check codes last 21 days.

Things to look at:

• Entitlement. A category B licence covers vans up to 3,500 kg. Drivers who passed their test before 1 January 1997 usually also hold C1, which covers vehicles up to 7,500 kg. Make sure the licence matches the vehicles they will drive.
• Points and endorsements. Know your insurer's limits before you offer the work, not after.
• Rechecks. A licence that was clean in January can carry six points by June. There is no legal frequency, but most fleets recheck every three to six months, and more often for drivers who already have points.

3. Employment status

Decide, and evidence, whether the driver is employed or genuinely self-employed. Getting it wrong is expensive: HMRC can push PAYE and National Insurance back onto you, and an employment tribunal can award holiday pay and other rights backdated.

For self-employed drivers:

• Run the arrangement through HMRC's Check Employment Status for Tax tool and keep the result.
• Collect their Unique Taxpayer Reference, which shows they are registered for Self Assessment.
• Make sure the contract reflects how the work actually happens. A contract that says self-employed does not help if the reality looks like employment.

4. Tax, VAT and self-billing

If you pay self-employed drivers by self-billing, the self-billing agreement has to be signed before you raise the first invoice. Onboarding is the natural place to do it. Check whether the driver is VAT registered and record their VAT number if they are, because it changes how every invoice is drawn up.

We cover the detail in Self-Bill Invoicing for Drivers: What HMRC Actually Requires.

5. Insurance

Who insures what depends on whose van it is:

• Your van: confirm the driver meets your fleet policy's criteria, such as age, licence history and points, and add them if the policy requires named drivers.
• Their own van: they need hire and reward or courier insurance, not standard social and commuting cover. Ask for the certificate and record the renewal date. Goods in transit and public liability cover are worth checking too.

An expired insurance certificate is one of the easiest things to miss and one of the most serious to get wrong.

6. The vehicle, if they bring one

For owner-drivers, check the van as carefully as the driver. Confirm the MOT and road tax are valid using the DVLA vehicle enquiry service, and record the dates so you know when they lapse. Take a set of photos at the start, too, so there is a clear record of the van's condition from day one.

7. Contracts and policies

• Employees and workers must get a written statement of their main terms on or before their first day.
• Self-employed drivers need a services agreement that sets out rates, deductions and how they are paid.
• Add the policies drivers must agree to: health and safety, vehicle use, data protection and any contract-specific rules from the network you deliver for.

Give every driver a privacy notice explaining what personal data you hold and why. You are collecting passports, licences and bank details, so UK GDPR applies.

8. Training and induction

Before the first shift, a driver should know how to work safely and how your operation runs. That usually means a site induction, safe driving and manual handling, how to report a defect or an accident, and any training the network requires. Record completion with a date, so you can prove it later.

9. The practical details

• Bank details for pay, checked against the driver's name.
• Emergency contact details.
• Uniform, scanner or app access, and depot access if needed.
• Contact details for whoever they should call when something goes wrong.

Make it repeatable

None of these checks is hard on its own. The trouble is doing all of them, for every driver, every time, and being able to prove it months later. A checklist on paper or a shared spreadsheet works until the week you onboard ten drivers at once and something slips.

That is what Verion's onboarding is built for. Drivers upload their documents, sign contracts and complete training from their phone. Right to work and licence checks run through HMRC and DVLA, and every expiry date is tracked automatically, so compliance keeps itself up to date after day one.

This is a general guide, not legal advice. Rules and penalties change, so always check the relevant gov.uk guidance before acting.