UK employers will obtain early access to the new electronic licence-checking service a full month before the paper counterpart is abolished on June 8th. A number of different industry bodies and associations have already been testing the online portal alongside the Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) and it's hoped that it will be made available to all employers by May 8th in order to make the transition to electronic-only licensing easier. DVLA programme manager, Dudley Ashford, said: 'What we're really trying to do is provide the opportunity for users to be well-versed in this new service, to understand how it's going to impact their day-to-day operations and to provide any feedback on how we can enhance the service to make it an easier transition.î The new online service _ the Share Driving Licence _ places the licence holder in complete control of their information.æ They'll be required to create a one-time access code to get to the service, and they will then be required to enter the last eight digits of their licence number. Once they are logged in, they'll be able to see their licence status, their endorsements and which vehicles they're permitted to drive.æ The driving licence shown on screen will be both date and time stamped, and downloadable as a PDF, with the information being accurate at the time of download.æ Any driver receiving endorsements will have their record updated within 24 hours. The DVLA has said that the new online service will 'initially' be free to fleets, and will help to improve risk management through giving employers access to 'real time' driving data. A particularly notable surge in business has been demonstrated in licence checking companies, with the DVLA market share for electronic checks increasing by 71 per cent during 2014. The View Driving Licence service, which was first launched in October 2014, has already been viewed half a million times.