Driver Vehicle Standards Agency
If youre 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.
Its 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 operators 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 operators 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. Youll 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 youve 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:
- its a brand new vehicle
- the vehicle has recently had an annual test
- the vehicle has recently had a roadside inspection
- its a vehicle belonging to a DVSA earned recognition accredited operator
MOT results
DVSA will check the results of your vehicles 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 theyre unsatisfactory.
Site visits
DVSA can visit your site to:
- inspect your records to check youre following the law on drivers hours
- check youre 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 theyre unsatisfactory.
Making changes to your operator licence
When you add a new operating centre to an existing licence it wont 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 youve used the service before.
You can register in the service if youve 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 negati