Heavy Goods Vehicle Driver Vacancies in the United Kingdom: October 2021 to September 2023
Published 16 November 2023
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About this release
This statistical release summarises data about Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) driver vacancies, collected as part of the Road Freight Haulage survey.
HGV businesses are asked about driver vacancies, the impact of vacancies on deliveries, financial incentives and wage increases for their drivers. Data is presented in quarters, from quarter 4 (October to December) 2021 to quarter 3 (July to September) 2023.
These statistics are badged as official statistics. Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.
Definition
HGV: a vehicle with a gross vehicle weight of more than 3.5 tonnes. The gross vehicle weight is the weight of the vehicle plus the maximum possible weight of goods that can be carried.
Quarter: a calendar year quarter. Quarter 1 refers to January to March, quarter 2 refers to April to June, quarter 3 refers to July to September, and quarter 4 refers to October to December.
Headline figures
Between quarter 4 (October to December) 2021 and quarter 3 (July to September) 2023
HGV businesses reporting HGV driver vacancies fell from 43% (888 out of 2,077 businesses) in quarter 4 2021 to 23% (495 out of 2,186) in quarter 3 2023. This improvement took place over the first 12 months of the survey, with vacancy rates relatively stable over the most recent 12 months.
The most common reason for drivers leaving over the period was ‘Better pay or benefits elsewhere’, reported by 42% (210) of the businesses with vacancies (495) in quarter 3 2023.
Among businesses reporting HGV driver vacancies, HGV businesses reporting missed deliveries because of a lack of drivers fell from 30% (262) in quarter 4 2021 to 18% (89) in quarter 3 2023. This has been below 20% since quarter 4 2022
Nearly half of HGV businesses, 46% (964), reported increasing their driver wages in the preceding 3 months in quarter 4 2021. This fell to 17% (370) of businesses in quarter 3 2023.
For businesses that reported increasing wages, the hourly wage increases fell from a median of £2.00 in quarter 4 2021 to £1.06 in quarter 3 2023. The amount varied between businesses, for example between £0.01 per hour to £5.30 in quarter 3 2023.
HGV businesses reporting paying financial incentives to recruit or retain drivers fell from around 14% (293) in quarter 4 2021 to 4% (96) in quarter 3 2023.
For businesses that reported paying an incentive (such as a recruitment payment or long service bonus), the median financial incentive paid to drivers has remained at around £500. The amount varied substantially between businesses. For example, in quarter 3 2023, the minimum amount was £2 and the maximum was £2,000.
HGV driver vacancies
HGV businesses were asked whether they had any driver vacancies at the time of the survey. The businesses with vacancies were then asked about the reasons which contributed to having vacancies.
Chart 1: HGV businesses on whether they had HGV driver vacancies, %, between quarter 4 2021 and quarter 3 2023 Table RFS0301
Chart 1 is a line chart which shows the fall in HGV businesses reporting drivers’ vacancies from 43% in quarter 4 2021 to 23% in quarter 3 2023.
This decline mainly took place over the first 12 months of the survey. Vacancy rates have been relatively stable over the most recent 12 months, at slightly above 20%.
Job vacancies are not always an indicator of challenges in the job market because there are other factors such as retirements, new entrants, and movement between jobs. However, the high rate of driver vacancies at the start of the collection series is likely due to the UK facing an HGV driver shortage in late 2021.
Find out about the 33 actions the UK government is taking to deal with the shortage of drivers in the UK.
Chart 2: Most common reasons for HGV driver vacancies reported by HGV businesses, %, between quarter 4 2021 and quarter 3 2023 Table RFS0302
Chart 2 is a line chart which shows the 3 most common reasons reported for vacancies between quarter 4 2021 and quarter 3 2023.
The 3 most common reasons are:
-
‘better pay or benefits elsewhere’, reported by 59% in quarter 4 2021
-
‘existing drivers leaving industry’, reported by 40% in quarter 4 2021
-
‘driver retirements’, reported by 36% in quarter 4 2021
The share of responses for these 3 reasons fell in quarter 3 2023, as other reasons were reported more frequently (see Table 1).
Note
Respondents could select more than one reason for vacancies.
Table 1: All reasons for driver vacancies reported by HGV businesses with HGV driver vacancies, %, in quarter 3 2023 Table RFS0302
| Reason | Percentage of businesses |
|---|---|
| Better pay or benefits elsewhere | 42% |
| Existing drivers leaving industry | 32% |
| Require more drivers to take on new work | 29% |
| Driver retirement | 28% |
| New drivers not entering profession | 20% |
| Working hours or conditions | 17% |
| Lack of European drivers | 12% |
| Other | 9% |
| Off-payroll (IR35) rule change | 4% |
| COVID-19 related | 3% |
| Unavailable HGV driving tests | 2% |
Table 1 shows the 11 reasons for vacancies reported in quarter 3 2023 by the 495 businesses with driver vacancies.
Although there was variability in the reasons reported in quarter 3 2023, ‘Better pay or benefits elsewhere’ remained the most frequently reported reason by 42% of businesses.
Two reasons were reported more often compared to the previous quarter which were ‘Require more drivers to take on new work’ and ‘new drivers not entering the profession’.
Only 2% reported ‘unavailable HGV driving tests’ in this quarter, falling from 15% in quarter 4 2021. This is likely a result of test availability stabilising after the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic disruption and the actions the UK government took to expand HGV driver testing capacity and improve the licencing processes.
Missed deliveries because of drivers not being available
HGV businesses with vacancies were asked whether they had missed deliveries in the last week due to drivers not being available.
Chart 3: HGV businesses on whether they missed deliveries due to drivers not being available, %, between quarter 4 2021 and quarter 3 2023 Table RFS0303
Chart 3 is a line chart which shows the fall of HGV businesses reporting missing a delivery because of a lack of drivers.
It fell from 30% (262 out of 888) in quarter 4 2021 to 17% (139 out of 817) in quarter 1 2022. In the most recent twelve months, it has been below 20%.
The percentage of HGV businesses that managed to avoid missing deliveries by changing suppliers or finding alternative solutions has remained relatively similar over time at around 20%.
Hourly wage increases for HGV drivers
HGV businesses were asked whether they had increased the wages of their HGV drivers within the last 3 months, regardless of having vacancies.
They were then asked for the reasons for increasing the wages and the amount of the increase.
In 2022, the median hourly pay for HGV drivers was £14.20. This is 4% lower than the median hourly pay for all employees (£14.77).
This follows a larger pay increase for HGV drivers of 13.1% from 2021 hourly pay (£12.55), compared with a 4.7% pay increase for all employees (£14.12).
Source: Employee earnings in the UK: 2022, Office for National Statistics.
Chart 4: HGV businesses on whether they increased the wages of their HGV drivers in the last 3 months, %, between quarter 4 2021 and quarter 3 2023 Table RFS0304
Chart 4 is a line chart which shows that in quarter 4 2021 nearly half of businesses had increased their drivers’ wages in the preceding 3 months, reported by 46% (934 out 2,077) of businesses.
The most common reason in quarter 4 2021 for increasing wages was ‘to retain existing drivers’, reported by 89% (856) of HGV businesses (Table RFS0306).This was likely a measure to address the impact of the HGV driver shortage.
The proportion of HGV businesses reporting increases in wages has fallen to 17% (370) in the most recent quarter.
The most common two reasons reported for increasing wages in quarter 3 2023 were ‘To retain existing drivers’, reported by 54% (200) and ‘Planned pay rise’, reported by 51% (189).
Note
This does not include non-wage based financial incentive. See section on financial incentives paid to HGV drivers.
Chart 5: Amount of hourly wage increases reported by HGV businesses, %, between quarter 4 2021 and quarter 3 2023 Table RFS0305
Chart 5 is a box plot chart which shows that, for HGV businesses which increased their wages, the median amount of hourly wage increases fell from £2.00 in quarter 4 2021 to £1.06 in quarter 3 2023.
The amount of hourly wage increases did vary between businesses. For example, in quarter 3 2023, the minimum amount was £0.01, and the maximum was £5.30.
Note
Outliers are removed. (See Data source section for methodology)
Box plot chart shows how the data is distributed. Each box represents a range of values associated with wage data. The line running through each box represents the median value. The top and bottom lines of each box represent the 25th and 75th quartiles respectively, so 50% of value are between these 2 lines. The ‘whiskers’ extending above and below each box represents the minimum and maximum increases amount.
Financial incentives paid to HGV drivers
HGV businesses were asked whether they had paid a non-wage-based financial incentive to recruit or to retain drivers in the last 3 months, such as a recruitment payment or long-service bonus.
HGV businesses were then also asked about the amount of the incentive paid.
Chart 6: HGV businesses on whether they have paid a financial incentive in the last 3 months, %, between quarter 4 2021 and quarter 3 2023 Table RFS0307
Chart 6 is a line chart which shows that 14% (293) of HGV businesses paid a financial incentive to drivers and 4% (89) were planning to in quarter 4 2021.
In quarter 3 2023, this fell to 4% (96) of businesses paying and 2% (44) planning to pay an incentive.
Across all quarters, the median financial incentive paid to HGV drivers has remained at £500. The amount paid did vary substantially between HGV businesses. For example, in quarter 3 2023, the minimum amount was £2, and the maximum was £2,000.
Note
The number of responses on the amount of financial incentive paid is lower, with about 50 to 140 responses per quarter, so please treat these figures with caution.
Outliers are not removed as no reference period was given. A maximum incentive payment amount of £4,000 paid during quarter 4 2021 may be actually have been paid as an annual bonus rather than for the quarter.
Data source
The figures in this release are derived from the Road Freight Haulage survey (CSRGT) sent to businesses which uses an HGV. The survey provides information on the activity of UK-registered HGVs operating across the UK only, based on a stratified sample of HGVs.
An additional section with questions on HGV driver vacancies was added in October 2021 in response to the shortage of HGV drivers. The estimates in this release are derived from this section. There are about 2,000 to 2,400 responses per quarter (Table RFS0309).
Respondents will vary significantly between businesses. The individual completing the survey could be an HGV driver, a business owner, or an administrative staff. Therefore, as they may not know all the business’ information, we have provided a ‘do not know’ option in the survey questions.
In Section 3 - Hourly wage increases for HGV drivers - outliers were removed. A response was considered an outlier if its value lies 1.5 times above the 75th percentile or 1.5 times below the 25th percentile.
Accompanying data tables are available which give further detail on the key results presented in this statistical release.
Official statistics
These statistics are badged as official statistics. Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR).
OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.
You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards.
Alternatively, you can email the OSR or via the OSR website.
More information
Further information about the methodology of the Road Freight Haulage survey can be found in the road freight domestic and international statistics guidance.
An annual release on Domestic Road Freight activity is also available for 2022 from the Road Freight Haulage survey. It covers the type of goods carried by GB-registered HGVs, as well as their origin and destination, method of transportation, intermodal activity and empty running.
Other statistics related to HGV drivers and freight are available.
Please contact road freight statistics if you have any questions about DfT road freight statistics.
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