Roads bosses have confirmed they will not push ahead with plans to get all autistic people to declare their condition

Driving bosses have been forced to perform a u-turn over plans to force autistic people to declare their condition.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) said earlier this week that autistic people would need inform them of their condition even if it does not affect their driving.

This led to a challenge from the National Autistic Society, after the change in policy was seemingly announced on the agency’s website. A person with autism contacted the charity and told them the DVLA website now stated drivers must disclose if they have an autistic spectrum disorder.

The agency has since confirmed that the policy will not be changing, with those on the spectrum only having to inform the DVLA If their autism affects their driving abilities.

An EHRC spokesperson said the body would expect any change in policy affecting people with an impairment to be clearly consulted on and communicated. “Failure to do so may be a breach of the public sector equality duty,” they said.

Jane Harris, the director of external affairs and social change at the NAS, said: “We are very concerned by the suggestion that people should inform the DVLA after being diagnosed as autistic.

“Autism is a lifelong disability and if someone has passed their driving test we can’t see how an autism diagnosis would change their ability to drive.

“We have contacted DVLA who have told us that the ‪‪gov.uk online guidance was wrong previously and that autistic people should notify them of their diagnosis.

“We are questioning the justification for this directly with them, as many of our supporters are very concerned as they were not previously aware that they needed to do this.

“We don’t believe that the DVLA guidance reflects the autism spectrum properly and are calling for the DVLA to make sure that no one is fined until this matter has been resolved.”

The DVLA initially said that it had aligned its policy on the advice of medical professionals, but has now performed a u-turn.

A spokesman for the DVLA said: “In our attempt to clarify the advice for drivers with autism spectrum disorders we’ve clearly muddied the waters and we’re very sorry for that.

“We have amended the advice on our website for both drivers and medical professionals which makes it clear that a driver who has an autism spectrum disorder only need tell us if their condition could affect their driving.”