Do You Need a PDI Trainee Licence, or Not?
It depends on your personal situation. Here are the actual requirements, so you can decide with the full picture rather than half of it.
What you need to get a trainee licence
You must have passed ADI Part 2, and completed at least 40 hours of training with a qualified ADI within the last 6 months, at least 10 of those hours in-car. The licence costs £140 to apply for and is valid for 6 months. Full detail: Apply for a trainee driving instructor licence (GOV.UK)
Once you have it, you choose one of two paths, and you can't switch later
- Supervision: your sponsoring ADI supervises 20% of all the lessons you give, recorded and submitted to DVSA when the licence ends.
- Extra training: at least 20 hours of additional training within your first 3 months (before booking Part 3), at least 25% of it in-car, recorded and submitted to DVSA.
Full detail: Trainee licence rules and options (GOV.UK)
Without a trainee licence
You're not restricted to any of the above, but you can't charge for lessons. What you can do is teach for free, using a car fitted with dual controls and the correct instructor/trainee insurance in place, and you can do as much or as little of it as suits you, no set hours, no supervision ratio, no DVSA paperwork.
Weighing it up
A trainee licence lets you earn while you finish training, real income, real pupils, but it comes with fixed requirements and a 6-month clock running. Going without one means no income from it yet, but genuinely flexible pace, and no obligations to meet on a deadline.
Franchise and sponsorship through Instruct IQ can support either route. See Franchise Opportunities for how that works.
Whichever you choose
We support trainees on either path, working at your own pace, not a fixed timeline imposed on you.