Use the Operator Compliance Risk Score (OCRS) system
How the Operator Compliance Risk Score (OCRS) system works and how vehicle operators should use it.
Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
If you’re a vehicle operator, your drivers might be stopped at the roadside by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) for vehicle inspections.
DVSA uses the Operator Compliance Risk Score (OCRS) system to decide which vehicles should be inspected.
DVSA uses OCRS to calculate the risk of an operator not keeping their vehicles safe to drive or breaking safety rules, such as drivers’ hours.
It’s more likely that your vehicles will be inspected if your OCRS is high.
You can check your OCRS report to see what your score is.
How OCRS works
OCRS is worked out for each of your operator licences. An individual vehicle will not have its own OCRS.
When DVSA detects a new offence or identifies a defect, points will get added to your OCRS.
When DVSA records an event where no points are allocated (known as a ‘clear event’), this will reduce your OCRS.
Events that happened more than 3 years ago are removed from your OCRS. This means your score will change, depending on whether the events from 3 years ago were positive or negative.
When you will not have an OCRS
You will not have an OCRS score if you have a new licence or have not interacted with DVSA in the last 3 years.
You will not have an OCRS if you only operate vehicles exempt from operator licensing.
Where the data comes from
Events are categorised as either roadworthiness or traffic to make up your overall score.
| Event category | Where the data comes from |
|---|---|
| Roadworthiness | Vehicle tests (first tests, subsequent MOT (annual tests)), vehicle encounters (roadside inspections), fleet assessments (visits to an operator’s premises) and remote enforcement interactions (desk-based assessments) |
| Traffic | Roadside inspections and prosecutions (for example, for drivers’ hours and tachograph offences, weighing checks), fleet assessments (visits to an operator’s premises) and remote enforcement interactions (desk-based assessments) |
DVSA will give you points when a test, inspection, fleet assessment or desk-based assessment finds a vehicle defect or offence. The number of points is determined by how serious the defect or offence is. You’ll get more points for more serious defects or offences.
When OCRS is updated
The OCRS re-scoring process runs every day. This allows:
- newly encountered operators to be scored
- new events (such as vehicle encounters and annual tests) to be included in scores
- new vehicles that you’ve added to your operator licence to be included
- older event scores to be changed to reflect the relevant year weighting
- expired events (those over 3 years old) to be removed from OCRS
Your score will update early in the morning. Your report will be updated at the same time.
What affects your score
Your score will be affected by any issues found by DVSA during:
- a roadside vehicle check
- your MOT results
- remote enforcement checks (called desk-based assessments)
- a site visit from DVSA (called a fleet assessment)
Roadside checks
When your vehicle is stopped at the roadside DVSA will check:
- if your vehicle is safe to drive
- your driver is following drivers’ hours rules
If the examiner finds any issues and gives you a prohibition, this will affect your score. If the examiner does not find any issues this will be classed as a ‘clear event’ and will not increase your score.
Any prohibitions issued to a trailer during a roadside check are allocated to the vehicle pulling the trailer and will affect your OCRS.
Sifted encounters at a roadside check
A ‘sifted’ encounter is a roadside check where a DVSA examiner carries out a walkaround check and decides that a full inspection is not needed.
Encounters that have been ‘sifted’ by DVSA examiners are not classed as an event so are not included as part of the scoring system. For example:
- it’s a brand new vehicle
- the vehicle has recently had an annual test
- the vehicle has recently had a roadside inspection
- it’s a vehicle belonging to a DVSA earned recognition accredited operator
MOT results
DVSA will check the results of your vehicle’s MOT.
If your vehicle fails the MOT, this will increase your score. If your vehicle passes its MOT, this will be classed as a ‘clear event’ and will not increase your score.
Trailer MOT results will not be included in your roadworthiness score.
If you choose to add passenger vehicles to your operator licence, results from your MOT tests will be included in your roadworthiness score.
Remote enforcement checks
DVSA can ask for a copy of your vehicle maintenance and drivers’ hours records to carry out enforcement checks remotely. This is called ‘desk-based assessment’ on your OCRS report.
DVSA will review your records and your score can increase if they find they’re unsatisfactory.
Site visits
DVSA can visit your site to:
- inspect your records to check you’re following the law on drivers’ hours
- check you’re keeping the right maintenance records
This is called ‘fleet assessment’ on your OCRS report.
DVSA will review your records and your score can increase if they find they’re unsatisfactory.
Making changes to your operator licence
When you add a new operating centre to an existing licence it won’t affect your OCRS.
When you apply for a new operator licence in a different traffic area, the new licence will not have an OCRS until the first positive or negative interaction with DVSA.
Access and use OCRS reports
You can access your OCRS report if you have one or more Great Britain operator licences. You need your Vehicle Operator Licensing account username and password if you’ve used the service before.
You can register in the service if you’ve not used it before.
Understand your OCRS report
The first page of your OCRS report contains:
- your operator details
- summary information showing how your score was worked out
The report has details of specific events that have had a negative and positive effect on your score.
The last table in the report shows details of events which have been removed from your score in the past 90 days.
The final pages provide more detailed guidance on the report contents.
Operators from Northern Ireland will have a reduced report based on data captured at the roadside by DVSA examiners and results from MOT tests taken in England, Wales and Scotland.
It does not include testing, prosecution events or roadside encounters carried out by the Driver and Vehicle Agency (DVA) in Northern Ireland.
Sample OCRS report
This sample report contains explanations of the important areas. It doesn’t contain all the data used to work out the example scores.
Maintain and improve your OCRS
You’re responsible for making sure:
- the right vehicles appear on your licence and are maintained on time
- your vehicles are always maintained to a high standard
- you follow all relevant laws, regulations and rules
You need to make sure that any failures at tests and prohibitions issued are investigated.
DVSA recommends that you:
- check your OCRS on a regular basis
- track changes to your OCRS
- set targets to improve the score in the future
- take action when a negative event occurs
Guides are available on the following subjects:
Scoring and bands
The ‘base score’ decides which OCRS band you fall into.
Your ‘base score’ is worked out over a 3-year rolling period by dividing your total number of offence or defect points by your total number of encounters.
You get more points for more serious defects or infringements.
OCRS bands
| Band | Risk type |
|---|---|
| Blue | DVSA earned recognition operator |
| Green | Low-risk operator |
| Amber | Medium-risk operator |
| Red | High-risk operator |
| Grey | Unknown operator |
You’ll have 3 scores for each individual operator licence that you have:
- a roadworthiness score
- a traffic score
- a combined score
The limits for each band are different for the roadworthiness, traffic and combined scores. For targeting purposes these scores will be combined using the following calculation:
Example
200 roadworthiness event points + 150 traffic event points = 350. These came from 4 roadworthiness events and 2 traffic events = 6 events. 350 divided by 6 = 58.33 putting this operator in the red band.
| OCRS band | Roadworthiness | Traffic | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green | 10 defect points or below | 5 offence points or below | 10 points or below |
| Amber | 10.01 to 25 defect points | 5.01 to 30 offence points | 10.01 to 25 points |
| Red | More than 25 defect points | More than 30 offence points | More than 25 points |
| Grey | No score | No score | No score |
It is possible to have a score for one category but not for another. You are classified as a ‘grey’ operator if you have not had an interaction with DVSA and have no score in any category.
OCRS year weightings
Older offences or defects have less impact on road safety, so the points for these reduce over the 3-year period OCRS uses.
The 3-year period is split into 3 blocks of 1 year, with a different weighting for each block.
This means that your ‘base score’ changes as offences and defects move from year 1 through to year 3.
| Year block | Weighting factor |
|---|---|
| Year 1 | 1 |
| Year 2 | 0.75 |
| Year 3 | 0.5 |
R: Roadworthiness. T: Traffic enforcement. C: Combined score.
No scores on OCRS
You won’t have a score for the roadworthiness or traffic categories if there’s no data available for you in the 3-year rolling period. It’s possible to have:
- a score for one category but not the other
- no score for both categories
Points for defects and offences
Points for roadworthiness defects
| Defect | Points |
|---|---|
| Cat 1 defect (immediate prohibition for tyres, brakes and steering defects) | 200 |
| Cat 2 defect (immediate prohibition for all other defects) | 100 |
| Cat 3 defect (delayed prohibition for tyres, brakes and steering defects) | 50 |
| Cat 4 defect (delayed prohibition for all other defects) | 25 |
| Cat 1 S marked defect (immediate prohibition for tyres, brakes and steering defects) | 400 |
| Cat 2 S marked defect (immediate prohibition for all other defects) | 200 |
| Cat 3 S marked defect (delayed prohibition for tyres, brakes and steering defects) | 100 |
| Cat 4 S marked defect (delayed prohibition for all other defects) | 50 |
| MOT (annual test) failure for tyres, brakes, steering defects | 50 |
| MOT (annual test) failure for all other defects | 25 |
Points for traffic offences
| Offence | Points |
|---|---|
| Band 0 offence (least serious offence) | 12.5 |
| Band 1 offence | 25 |
| Band 2 offence | 50 |
| Band 3 offence | 100 |
| Band 4 offence | 200 |
| Band 5 offence | 300 |
Points for DVSA prosecutions
| Prosecution type | Points |
|---|---|
| DVSA operator prosecution case | 300 |
| DVSA operator prosecution points per offence | 100 |
| DVSA driver prosecution case | 0 |
| DVSA driver prosecution points per offence | 50 |
Prohibitions for breaches of the ADR (carriage of dangerous goods) regulations
| Risk category | Points |
|---|---|
| Risk category 1 (band 2 offence, highest risk) | 50 |
| Risk category 2 (band 1 offence, medium risk) | 25 |
| Risk category 3 (band 0 offence, lowest risk) | 0 |
You can find further information on ADR offences in section 14 of the enforcement sanction policy document.
Points for desk-based and fleet assessments
Points for vehicle safety offences (roadworthiness)
| Result | Desk-based assessments | Fleet assessments |
|---|---|---|
| Unsatisfactory, DVSA will report to traffic commissioner | 25 | 100 |
| Unsatisfactory | 25 | 50 |
| Mostly satisfactory | 9 | 0 |
| Satisfactory | 0 | 0 |
Points for drivers’ hours or other traffic offences
| Result | Desk-based assessments | Fleet assessments |
|---|---|---|
| Unsatisfactory, DVSA will report to traffic commissioner | 25 | 250 |
| Unsatisfactory | 25 | 100 |
| Mostly satisfactory | 9 | 0 |
| Satisfactory | 0 | 0 |
What to do if you think your OCRS is incorrect
You should:
- check that your vehicle registration is listed on your operator licence and correct any errors
- run your service history reports so that you can see what events have just been added and which events have just been removed
If you think DVSA has made a mistake during an event you can:
- appeal an HGV or trailer MOT decision
- appeal a public service vehicle (PSV) annual test decision
- complain about a roadside prohibition
- complain about a fine
If you have another issue with your OCRS, email operator.reports@dvsa.gov.uk.
In your email you need to include:
- your operator licence number
- a copy of the OCRS report with the mistake
- any supporting documents, such as sales receipts
DVSA can only speak to a person named on the Vehicle Operator Licensing system for your company, such as a transport manager or director.
What happens after you appeal
A pending appeal will not affect your OCRS until DVSA accepts the appeal. DVSA will remove the event from your OCRS if your appeal is successful, and it will be worked out again.
OCRS reports provide a snapshot at a particular moment, so changes won’t be shown until after the update. Running a report for a previous date to when the changes occurred will give you the score at that point.
If you still think there is a mistake after your appeal has been resolved email operator.reports@dvsa.gov.uk.
In your email you need to include:
- your operator licence number
- a copy of the OCRS report with the mistake
- supporting documents, such as sales receipts
Data protection
OCRS bands are not given to a driver at the roadside unless they can prove that they are either:
- the sole owner of the vehicle
- the operator of the vehicle
- named on the vehicle operator licence
Changes to OCRS
DVSA can change how OCRS works if it needs to. This can be by changing the:
- number of points for offences and defects
- number of points for prosecutions
- weightings for older events
- band thresholds that determine if you’re red, amber, green or blue
Sign up to get email alerts when DVSA changes OCRS.
Updates to this page
Last updated 1 September 2023 + show all updates
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Added DVSA driver prosecution points per offence to the 'Points for DVSA prosecutions' table.
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Updated the points for traffic offences in the section "Points for defects and offences". Operators will now get 12.5 points added to their score for a band 0 traffic offence.
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Updated: * DVSA now carries out desk-based assessments, which it uses to calculate an operator’s OCRS * DVSA now uses fleet assessments to calculate an operator’s OCRS * DVSA earned recognition operators are in the blue band and DVSA examiners do not carry out a full roadside inspection for these operators * operators from Northern Ireland have a reduced report based on data captured at the roadside by DVSA examiners and MOT tests carried out in England, Wales and Scotland * OCRS re-scoring process now runs every day * corrected OCRS bands to include scores that were previously missing * new guidance for how to appeal or resolve another issue with OCRS Removed: * OCRS for operators based outside Great Britain because there is no OCRS system for these operators * trigger events and time periods because DVSA does not use these to calculate an OCRS * membership and confirmation letters sent to operators when they sign up to the OCRS system because they now get immediate access
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Updated the introduction to make it clear that you will not be part of the Operator Compliance Risk Score (OCRS) system if you join the DVSA earned recognition scheme.
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Added information about the new combined score, and other changes to the scoring system.
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First published.