Continued fall in HGV drivers puts “industry at crossroads” – Logistics UK

“The UK HGV sector in 2025 finds itself at a crossroads” and “a renewed investment in targeted training and recruitment is needed to help address continued labour shortages and potential supply chain disruption.” This stark appraisal of the state of the sector is laid out in Logistics UK’s Compliance Report 2025, the business group’s annual analysis of compliance trends across the logistics sector and commercial vehicles.

The report, launched today (17 September) at Logistics UK’s Transport Manager conference at Hayes Motor Museum in Yeovil, shows that at the beginning of 2025, the UK's active HGV driver workforce had fallen to 293,714. This is a decline of 1.9% from 2024, a number driven largely by a reduction in UK-born drivers currently working across the country. This decline in UK-born driver numbers (down 4.5% -12,183 drivers) was off-set by an increase in EU drivers working in the UK (up by 15.4% – 4,415 drivers) with the report suggesting this is likely due to improved working conditions or reduced post-EU Exit barriers.

“Without logistics, the UK economy would grind to a halt,” says Logistics UK’s Acting Chief Executive Kevin Green, “but our research shows that the HGV sector, which delivers much of what the economy relies on every day is facing a declining workforce, ageing demographics and training gaps. The situation is being compounded by the government’s decision to discontinue national funding for the HGV Skills Bootcamps programme – an initiative that was very effective in attracting career switchers and the unemployed and trained over 20,000 drivers achieving a 72% job placement rate. Our sector is the lifeblood of the UK’s economy and deserves to be invested to futureproof our workforce.”

The report outlines how the long-term trend toward consolidation and increased market dominance of large operators continues: over the past decade the number of GB operator licences has fallen by 12.4% while the number of vehicles specified on licences has increased by 9.4%.  The report describes how this reflects a trend towards fewer operators managing larger fleets and suggests larger operators are likely to be better equipped to weather economic volatility, adapt to regulatory changes and invest in fleet modernisation.

Writing the report’s foreword, Senior Traffic Commissioner, Kevin Rooney, observes that non-compliance incidents are the “exceptions rather than the rule” and the report “highlights the high standards that the vast majority of operators consistently maintain.” The report supports this observation and the long-term data on HGV MOT initial and final failure rates shows a clear and consistent improvement in compliance and vehicle maintenance standards across the industry. The initial failure rate for HGVs has decreased from 32.4% in 2008/09 to 10.3% in 2024/25, while the final failure rate (reflecting the proportion of vehicles that still fail after rectification) has dropped from 17.7% to 6.9% over the same period.

Mr Green continues, “Compliance is a critical subject and will always be at the heart of everything we do in our industry. The positive trends highlighted in the report show how seriously operators take their responsibilities and reflect a combination of cultural change and operational improvements as well as changes to regulatory requirements.

“There are still challenges ahead, especially in the area of skills and the sector needs a coordinated approach to recruitment. On behalf of our members, we are pressing the government to work with industry to support alternative training pathways to recruit, and address working conditions that affect retention, both of which are critical for stabilising and building resilience into the sector.”

Copies of the “Compliance Report 2025” are available to delegates attending Logistics UK’s Transport Manager conferences and also available to Logistics UK members here: https://logistics.org.uk/research-hub/reports/compliance-report-2025. These events, happening at venues nationwide, provide an ideal opportunity for those operating commercial vehicles to keep up to date with compliance legislation – to find out more and book your place, please visit https://logistics.org.uk/transport-manager

Logistics UK is one of the UK’s biggest business groups, representing logistics businesses which are vital to keeping the UK trading, and more than seven million people directly employed in the making, selling and moving of goods. With decarbonisation, Brexit, new technology and other disruptive forces driving change in the way goods move across borders and through the supply chain, logistics has never been more important to UK plc. Logistics UK supports, shapes and stands up for safe and efficient logistics, and is the only business group which represents the whole industry, with members from the road, rail, water and air industries, as well as the buyers of freight services such as retailers and manufacturers whose businesses depend on the efficient movement of goods. For more information about the organisation and its work, please visit logistics.org.uk