Many instructors have already left the industry, due to the financial pressures they face, whilst demand from learners for their services has only built up during lock down.

The heightened demand from learners for lessons and lack of supply of instructors will result in longer waiting time for learners to learn to drive. Add to this the backlog of learners in the system waiting to take their theory and driving tests, which are currently on pause, then learners really will need to master the art of patience in the coming months ahead.

Intelligent Instructor surveyed over 5,000 instructors; the majority of whom have been being badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. Clearly the current 2m social distancing rule is impossible in the car whilst instructing so, apart for teaching key workers, many have seen their regular income dry up overnight.

Whilst over half of those surveyed have serious health concerns about going back to work, more than half would be happy go back to work tomorrow if given the green light to do so. 90% stated that they will be changing their ways of teaching, with three quarters having already purchased the necessary PPE to protect them when returning to work.

With 70% of the instructor market being made up of independent instructors, it’s no surprise that over half have found this period challenging mentally, as well as suffering financially too. For some, the challenge is too much with half believing that there will be less instructors left in the market with some already having chosen different career paths already or bringing forward retirement plans.

65% of those surveyed believe there will be an increase in demand in the market from learners who have been in lockdown, so those that do remain will have busy dairies for the foreseeable future. Nine out of 10 instructors think the learners they were teaching before lockdown will have become rusty and require more tuition too, and two thirds feeling those students who passed their test just before lock-down would also require refresher lessons.

With the 6th July a widely touted date of when we’ll see instructors start working again, it’ll be an interesting road ahead for both them and their learners.