Working for the DVLA in Swansea

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is an executive agency of the Department for Transport and one of the largest employers in Swansea. Most of its jobs are administrative officer (AO) roles processing driving licence and vehicle applications, handling medical cases, or answering phone and web enquiries in the contact centre, alongside a substantial digital and technology team. All DVLA staff are civil servants, so jobs are advertised on Civil Service Jobs and assessed with the standard Success Profiles framework.

The jobs on offer

Processing and casework

The bulk of DVLA work is checking and processing applications: new licences, renewals, changes of address, vehicle registrations and tax. Some of it is paper-based post, more of it is now digital, and much of it involves checking documents and records against rules. Drivers’ medical casework is a specialist area, where staff assess notifications about health conditions and decide, within guidance and with medical advisers, what happens to a licence. It suits people who are comfortable making careful decisions that affect someone’s ability to drive.

Contact centre

Contact centre advisers answer calls, webchats and emails from the public about licences, vehicle tax and registration. The work is target-driven and can be repetitive, but many people start here before moving into casework or team leader roles. Shifts can include early starts, evenings and Saturdays, depending on opening hours and the rota.

Digital, data and technology

DVLA runs one of the larger digital teams in government outside London, building and maintaining the services the public use online. Roles include software developers, testers, product and delivery managers, user researchers and infrastructure engineers. Digital and technology jobs in government (DDaT) explains how these roles and their pay allowances work.

Corporate and support roles

Finance, HR, procurement, estates, security and policy teams support the operation. These are usually at executive officer level and above.

Grades and what AO means

AO stands for administrative officer, one of the delegated Civil Service grades. The ladder runs from administrative assistant (AA) to AO, executive officer (EO), higher executive officer (HEO), senior executive officer (SEO), Grade 7 and Grade 6, with the Senior Civil Service above. Most processing and contact centre jobs are AO, team leaders tend to be EO, and operational managers HEO or SEO. Administrative officer (AO) in the Civil Service covers the grade in detail.

How to apply

Search Civil Service Jobs for “DVLA” or “Swansea”. DVLA sometimes runs large bulk campaigns for AO roles, which can open and close quickly when demand is high. How to use Civil Service Jobs explains how to set up alerts so you do not miss them.

Applications use Success Profiles, which has five elements: Behaviours, Strengths, Ability, Experience and Technical. AO campaigns usually ask for a few behaviour examples, often Managing a Quality Service, Working Together and Delivering at Pace, and may include an online test. Shortlisted candidates are interviewed, often by video.

Bulk campaigns often run a merit list. Candidates who pass but are not offered a post straight away go on a reserve list and may be offered a job as vacancies arise over the following months. If you are told you are on one, keep your contact details and availability up to date with the recruitment team. You can still apply for other posts in the meantime.

Civil Service nationality rules apply. UK nationals, including dual nationals, can apply for any post, and about 75% of posts are also open to Commonwealth citizens and EEA nationals. Offers depend on identity, right to work, references and baseline security checks.

The Welsh language

DVLA provides services in Welsh and English. Most posts do not need Welsh, but some customer-facing posts list it as essential, and many list it as desirable. Speaking Welsh can widen the jobs open to you. Welsh language skills in public sector jobs explains how the levels are described in adverts.

Pay, hours and tax

DVLA sets its own pay ranges for each grade, and adverts give the starting salary. National ranges are not in the sources we have checked, so we have not printed them here. All workers aged 21 and over must be paid at least the National Living Wage of £12.71 an hour from 1 April 2026. For 2026/27 the Civil Service pay remit guidance allowed a headline increase of up to 3.5% across each department’s paybill, and a voluntary pay compression framework covers grades from AA to EO. None of this confirms what any individual receives.

Full-time and part-time posts are available, and many teams use flexible working hours. Staff join the Civil Service pension scheme, alpha, paying 4.6% on pay up to £36,199 in 2026/27.

If you live in Wales, you pay Welsh rates of income tax with a C prefix on your tax code. For 2026/27 the Welsh Government kept rates level with England, so the total tax is the same. Public sector jobs in Swansea covers other large employers in the area, and the take-home pay calculator shows what an AO salary comes to each month.