Three Year Funding on MIB Operations To Combat Uninsured Driving

The MIB has announced a three-year extension to its funding for Op Tutelage, the national policing initiative to reduce uninsured driving. The successful programme, which has been funded by MIB since its launch in 2020, will now be supported until at least 2027 and help reduce uninsured driving and make roads safer.

Op Tutelage, which is led by the NPCC’s National Roads Policing Operations, Intelligence and Investigations (NRPOII) in partnership with MIB, sees police forces send local drivers advisory letters when their vehicles are flagged as uninsured on ANPR.

Since launch in 2020, the MIB-backed initiative has encouraged over 400,000 previously uninsured drivers to correct their insurance status, with three in four of those contacted taking corrective action.

Not only is Op Tutelage reducing uninsured driving and making roads safer, it is also returning revenue to insurers and ultimately consumers who face added costs due to uninsured drivers.

Speaking at the 2023 National Tutelage Symposium this week (19 April 2023) attended by national roads policing authorities, James Dalton, Chief Services Officer at MIB, said:

“We are determined to achieve our vision of bringing an end to uninsured driving. There are still many challenges, but with the right investment, ambition, and focus, we will one day make that vision a reality. And so, I am delighted to announce that we have secured a further three years of funding for the Operation Tutelage programme.

“We are committed to investing in the long-term success of Tutelage and that we see how valuable it’s going to be in continuing to keep dangerous drivers off the roads.”

By using MIB’s Motor Insurance Database (MID), which is a central record of all active motor insurance policies in the UK, police can quickly identify any vehicle that appears not to have insurance and send the registered keeper an advisory letter through the Op Tutelage scheme.

Drawing on research into the use of nudges, behaviour change approaches and the concept of procedural justice, the letters encourage motorists to take corrective action and drive insured.

There are a range of reasons why someone’s vehicle might show as uninsured on the MID. Causes stem from the unintentional such as drivers not realising their policy has expired or admin errors, all the way through to those willing to break the law by intentionally driving without insurance.

By sending out advisory letters, police can give a chance to those who may have not realised their vehicle was uninsured to correct this before heading out on the road. Roads policing officers are then more likely to stop motorists who intentionally drive without insurance, who are linked to a higher rate of collisions and additional road traffic offences.

Uninsured drivers are proven to cause more collisions and are frequently linked to wider road crime, including hit-and-runs. Therefore, cracking down on the issue can protect road users from harm and can also save insurers and ultimately their customers on added costs.

Last year, Op Tutelage helped police to seize 123,000 vehicles for no insurance.