Impact assessment

Lowering the minimum age requirement for train drivers from 20 to 18

Assesses the economic and social impacts of lowering the minimum age for train drivers from 20 to 18 years old in Great Britain.

From:
Department for Transport
Published
30 January 2026
Last updated
19 March 2026 — See all updates

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

Documents

Equality impact assessment: Loweringlowering the minimum age for train drivers from 20 to 18 in Great Britain

PDF, 153 KB, 3 pages

This file may not be suitable for users of assistive technology.

Request an accessible format.
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email webmasterdft@dft.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

De minimis assessment: Loweringlowering the miniumminimum age forto be train driversdriver in GB from 20 to 18 in Great Britain

PDF, 252328 KB, 20 pages

This file may not be suitable for users of assistive technology.

Request an accessible format.
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email webmasterdft@dft.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Details

Following our consultation on lowering the minimum age to be a train driver from 20 to 18 years old, government will progress with plans to do this.  

The de-minimis and equality impact assessments evaluate the economic and social impacts of lowering the minimum age to be a train driver in Great Britain from 20 to 18 years old.

For more detail on how the rail industry will implement this change, see the related implementation plan.

Updates to this page

Published 30 January 2026
Last updated 19 March 2026 href="#full-history">+ show all updates

  1. Link to the related rail industry implementation plan added.

  2. First published.

Sign up for emails or print this page