Heavy goods vehicle driver vacancies in the United Kingdom: October 2021 to March 2024
Published 11 July 2024
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/road-freight-statistics-2023/heavy-goods-vehicle-driver-vacancies-in-the-united-kingdom-october-2021-to-march-2024
About this release
These are official statistics. For more information, see the section ‘about these statistics’.
These statistics include data about heavy goods vehicle (HGV) driver vacancies from quarter 4 (October to December) 2021 to quarter 1 (January to March) 2024.
HGV businesses are asked about driver vacancies, the impact of vacancies on deliveries, financial incentives and wage increases for their HGV drivers.
This is collected as part of the road freight haulage survey. These statistics are more up to date than our domestic road freight statistics, due to quicker processing time. Accompanying data tables are available.
An annual release on domestic road freight activity is also available for 2023 from the road freight haulage survey.
Definitions
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. In this publication, 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 2021 (October to December) and quarter 1 2024 (January to March)
The number of HGV businesses reporting HGV driver vacancies has continued to fall since a high of 43% at the start of the series in quarter 4 2021. This has been around 20% since quarter 4 2022.
Fewer HGV businesses are reporting ‘Better pay or benefits elsewhere’ as a reason for HGV drivers leaving. In quarter 1 2024, ‘Better pay or benefits elsewhere’ was reported as the reason by 34% of businesses (145 out 430 of the businesses with vacancies), compared to 59% (522 out of 888) at the start of the series in quarter 4 2021.
For the first time in a quarter, the most common reason for drivers leaving in quarter 1 2024 was ‘driver retirement’, reported by 35% of businesses (152 out of 430 businesses with vacancies).
Among businesses reporting HGV driver vacancies, HGV businesses reporting missed deliveries because of a lack of drivers has continued to remain below 20% since quarter 4 2022, down from a peak of 30% in quarter 4 2021.
At the start of the series in quarter 4 2021, nearly half of HGV businesses (46%) reported increasing their driver wages within the preceding 3 months. This has since fallen, with 11% (242 out of 2,291) of businesses reporting wage increases in quarter 1 2024.
For businesses that reported increasing wages, the median increase has remained around £1 per hour since quarter 1 2023. In quarter 1 2024, the minimum was £0.12 per hour, the median was £1.00 per hour and the maximum was £2.75 per hour.
HGV businesses reporting paying financial incentives to recruit or retain drivers has continued to fall, from around 14% (293 out of 2,077 businesses) at the start of the series in quarter 4 2021 to 3% (75 out of 2,291 businesses) in quarter 1 2024. It has remained below 5% since quarter 3 2023.
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 1 2024 Table RFS0301
Chart 1 is a line chart which shows the proportion of HGV businesses reporting HGV driver vacancies has remained similar in quarter 1 2024 at 19% (430 out of 2,291 businesses) compared with the previous quarter 4 2023 at 18% (374 out of 2,095 businesses).
This compares to 43% (888 out of 2,077 businesses) at the start of the data series, in quarter 4 2021.
Chart 2: Most common reasons for HGV driver vacancies reported by HGV businesses, %, between quarter 4 2021 and quarter 1 2024 Table RFS0302
Chart 2 is a line chart which shows that fewer HGV businesses are reporting ‘Better pay or benefits elsewhere’ as a reason for HGV drivers vacancies. In quarter 1 2024, ‘Better pay or benefits elsewhere’ was reported by 34% of businesses (145 out 430 of the businesses with vacancies), compared to 59% (522 out of 888) of businesses at the start of the series in quarter 4 2021.
The proportion of responses for these 3 reasons fluctuated in quarter 1 2024 (see Table 1).
Note
Respondents could select more than one reason for having HGV driver vacancies.
Table 1: All reasons for driver vacancies reported by HGV businesses with HGV driver vacancies, %, in quarter 1 2024 Table RFS0302
| Reasons | Percentage of businesses |
|---|---|
| Driver retirement | 35% |
| Better pay or benefits elsewhere | 34% |
| Existing drivers leaving industry | 32% |
| Require more drivers to take on new work | 24% |
| Working hours or conditions | 18% |
| Other | 14% |
| New drivers not entering profession | 13% |
| Lack of European drivers | 5% |
| Off-payroll (IR35) rule change | 3% |
| COVID-19 related | 2% |
| Unavailable HGV driving tests | 1% |
Table 1 shows the 11 reasons for vacancies reported by the 430 businesses with driver vacancies in quarter 1 2024.
The top 3 most common reasons in quarter 1 2024 remained the same as the previous quarter, each reported by approximately one in three businesses:
-
‘driver retirements’, reported by 35%
-
‘better pay or benefits elsewhere’, reported by 34%
-
‘existing drivers leaving industry’, reported by 32%
For the first time in a quarter, the most common reason in quarter 1 2024 was ‘driver retirement’ reported by 35% of businesses (152 out of 430 businesses with vacancies), closely followed by ‘better pay or benefit elsewhere’, reported by 34% of businesses (145 out of 430 businesses with vacancies).
‘New drivers not entering the profession’ was reported by 13% of businesses (56 out of 430 businesses with vacancies), the lowest percentage of businesses since data collection began. This has overall been a downward trend, with its highest at 31% of businesses (274 out of 888 businesses with vacancies) at the start of the series in quarter 4 2021.
Only 1% of businesses (6 out of 430 businesses with vacancies) reported ‘unavailable HGV driving tests’ falling from 15% of businesses (131 out of 888 businesses with vacancies) at the start of the series in quarter 4 2021.
Missed deliveries due to 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 with vacancies on whether they missed deliveries in the last week due to drivers not being available, %, between quarter 4 2021 and quarter 1 2024 Table RFS0303
Chart 3 is a line chart which shows the fall of HGV businesses with HGV vacancies reporting missing a delivery because of a lack of drivers. At the start of the series in quarter 4 2021, 30% (262 out of 888 businesses with vacancies) reported missing a delivery because of a lack of drivers.
Since quarter 4 2022, it has been below 20%. In quarter 1 2024, 11% of businesses (49 out of 430 businesses with vacancies) reported missing a delivery because of a lack of drivers, which is the lowest percentage since data collection began in 2021.
The percentage of HGV businesses that managed to avoid missing deliveries by changing suppliers or by 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 drivers within the last 3 months, regardless of having vacancies.
They were then asked for the reasons which contributed to increasing wages and the amount of the increase.
In 2023, the median hourly pay for HGV drivers was £15.00. This is 14% lower than the median hourly pay for all employees (£17.48).
Source: Annual Survey of hours and Earnings (ASHE), Office for National Statistics (ONS)
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 1 2024 Table RFS0304
Chart 4 is a line chart which shows that in quarter 4 2021, nearly half of HGV businesses (46%, 964 out of 2,077 businesses) had increased their drivers’ wages in the preceding 3 months.
The most common reason in quarter 4 2021 for increasing wages was ‘to retain existing drivers’, reported by 89% of HGV businesses (856 out of 964 businesses reporting increasing wages). This was likely a measure to address the impact of the HGV driver shortage Table RFS0306.
Note
Respondents could select more than one reason for increasing the wages of their HGV driver.
The proportion of HGV businesses reporting increases in wages has continued to fall, to 11% (242 out of 2,291 businesses) in quarter 1 2024.
The most common reason reported for increasing wages in quarter 1 2024 was ‘planned pay rise’, reported by 64% (154 out of 242 businesses reporting increasing wages), followed by ‘to retain existing drivers’ reported by 43% (104 out of 242) Table RFS0306.
Note
This does not include non-wage based financial incentives such as one-off bonuses (see the 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 1 2024 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 increase has remained around £1 since quarter 1 2023.
The amount does vary between businesses. In quarter 1 2024, the minimum was £0.12 per hour, the median was £1.00 per hour and the maximum was £2.75 per hour.
Note
Outliers are removed (see the section on ‘Data source for methodology’).
Box plot charts show how the data is distributed. Each box represents a range of values associated with wage increases. 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 the values lie between these 2 lines. The ‘whiskers’ extending above and below each box represents the minimum and maximum wage increases.
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 1 2024 Table RFS0307
Chart 6 is a line chart which shows that at the start of the series, quarter 4 2021, 14% (293 out of 2,077) of HGV businesses reported paying a financial incentive to HGV drivers, and a further 4% of HGV businesses planned to pay one (89 out of 2,077). Since quarter 4 2021, these proportions have fallen.
In quarter 1 2024, 3% (75 out of 2,291 businesses) of businesses paid an incentive and 2% (34 out of 2,291) were planning to pay one.
Across all quarters, the median financial incentive paid to HGV drivers has remained around £500. The amount paid did vary substantially between HGV businesses. For example, in quarter 1 2024, the minimum amount was £1, the median was £450, and the maximum was £5,000.
Note
The number of responses on the amount of financial incentive paid is lower, with about 20 to 140 responses per quarter, so please treat these figures with caution.
Outliers are not removed as no reference period was given. For example, 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.
Further sources of information
Other statistics related to HGV drivers and freight are available.
ONS Large goods vehicle drivers
ONS Large goods vehicle drivers by age group
ONS Earnings and hours worked of large goods vehicle drivers
ONS Transport and Storage vacancies
International road freight statistics: 2023
Road goods vehicles travelling to Europe: 2023
About these statistics
These are official statistics. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics. More information about these statistics can be found in the statistical release.
Data source
The figures in this release are derived from the road freight haulage survey (previously called CSRGT) sent to businesses which operate 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.
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 2023 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.
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