Passdesk
Changelog

What shipped, when.

Every notable Passdesk release, dated. Newer entries first.

  1. Pin the pages you use most

    Keep your favourite pages one click away, choose which emails you get, and see more on a big screen.

    • Pin up to eight pages to the top of the sidebar, and find your recent pages in the search box
    • Today, My earnings and Messages make use of a wide screen on a desktop
    • Your school’s name sits beside the logo, so the sidebar starts higher up the page
    • Choose which emails you get under My account, such as enquiry alerts and summaries
    • Refund chosen instalments of a Direct Debit plan from Passdesk
    • A learner’s parents and supervising drivers are together in one Family card on their record
    • Search for a learner by their full name
    • Pressing “This wasn’t me” on a new sign-in email now locks every account on that email address

  2. Easier moves from another system

    Bringing your learners and history over from another system now takes fewer clicks: Passdesk reads Excel files, works out which column is which, and remembers your layout for next time.

    • Upload an Excel workbook as well as a CSV, and pick which sheet to bring in
    • Passdesk matches your columns by what is in them, and suggests the rest for you to check
    • Bring in a file laid out the same way again and your matched columns are already filled in
    • Lesson statuses, test results and skill levels from your old system, such as “DNA” or “P”, are read as Passdesk’s own, and you see each one before anything is saved
    • Package, skill and progress names that are spelt differently in your old system are matched to yours, and you check each match before it is saved
    • A learner’s own instructor can now record how their driving test went
    • Opening Passdesk with no signal keeps you signed in, so learners can carry on with theory practice offline
    • Sign-in and sign-up pages open faster

  3. See when support opened your account, and why things change

    School owners can see every time our support team opened their account and why, staff hear about sign-ins from a new device, and a few quick choices help you see why lessons are cancelled and enquiries lost.

    • A new Support access page under Settings lists each time our support team opened your account, who they opened it as, the reason they gave and how long for
    • Owners and staff get an email when someone signs in to their account from a new device, with a button to lock it down if it wasn’t them
    • Cancelling a lesson asks why in one tap, such as weather, illness or the car
    • Marking an enquiry lost lets you say why, so you can see how many you turned away because you were full
    • Test results can record the day the test was booked and which part of the test each fault was under
    • A learner’s record has an Earlier driving section for hours they drove before joining you
    • Learners who pay after each lesson see how they pay and their rate, rather than no hours left

  4. Clearer terms on anonymised statistics

    Version 1.8 of the terms and an updated privacy policy say how we make anonymised statistics, how a school leaves them out, and which records we keep for six years. For existing schools the terms change applies from 1 December 2026.

    • The terms now say schools allow us to make anonymised statistics from their records, and that a school can leave them out at any time with the research setting on School info
    • A statistic is only published when it comes from at least 20 learners at 3 or more schools, with no one school making up more than half
    • We keep a record of refunds, fee changes, discounts and free months, and of which version of the terms each person agreed to, for six years, without names or contact details after two years
    • The privacy policy now lists every place we keep the IP address you connect from, and for how long

  5. Sign Spotter, a road-sign game for learners

    Learners can practise road signs with a quick game on Theory, and lesson reminders open the right day in their schedule.

    • Sign Spotter on the Theory page: name each sign before your car reaches it, with three goes and your best score kept
    • Every drive adds to your car’s team total for the week, and anyone can try the game at passdesk.co.uk/sign-spotter
    • End drive stops a game whenever you like, and the signs you’ve spotted still count for your best and your car’s team
    • Sign Spotter now has 42 signs, redrawn to look like the real ones, and a drive finishes once you’ve spotted them all
    • Turn on the speaker for a cheerful tune while you drive. It stays off until you do
    • Reminder and alert emails now end by saying where to change which emails you get
    • Lesson reminder emails have a button that opens the learner’s schedule on the lesson day
    • Parents see what happens next after a test that didn’t go to plan, and a new learner’s readiness card says Early days
    • Learners who haven’t bought any lessons yet are asked to buy their first ones, rather than told their hours have run out

  6. Skills on lesson thumbs, and a clearer audit log

    Instructors can say which skill each thumbs up or down was about, the audit log reads in plain words, and pages ask before you lose changes you haven’t saved.

    • At the end of a lesson, pick the skill each thumbs up or down was about and Passdesk suggests that skill’s mark
    • Learners who pay after each lesson see the price before they book, with any hours they’ve already bought taken off first
    • The audit log says what happened in plain words, who did it and which student or team member it was about
    • Utilisation shows an instructor’s empty working hours as dead slots, so you can see which hours never get booked
    • Pages where you edit, like a student’s record or your public page, ask before you leave with changes you haven’t saved, whether you use the menu, Back or refresh
    • On a phone, Products, Purchases and Team show one card per row, and the cookie notice no longer covers the sign-up form
    • The check that you’re human runs quietly in the background, so most people never see a box to tick
    • The sign-in and sign-up pages appear straight away, even on a slow phone connection, and you can start typing before the rest of Passdesk has loaded

  7. The cars dress up for Halloween, and pay-after learners can book

    The Passdesk cars join in with more of your day and put on a witch’s hat for Halloween, and learners who pay after each lesson can book without buying hours first.

    • Your car drives off when you sign in, locks up when you sign out, says That’s a wrap after an instructor’s last lesson of the day and wishes learners good luck on test day
    • Learners see their car on a road across My progress, and it wears a party hat on their birthday
    • From 24 October to Halloween the cars wear a witch’s hat, here on passdesk.co.uk too, and from 1 to 26 December a Santa hat
    • Learners who pay after each lesson can book any open lesson length, without buying hours first
    • A learner’s home page shows the month on lessons further away, and My progress shows hours driven to the minute
    • Once a learner passes, My test stops offering Show me, tell me and practice routes, and their home page stops asking when they’re free for spare lessons
    • Turning off “Our instructors cover different areas” in School info pauses region routing and filters, and keeps your regions for when you turn it back on
    • The demo page has a new walkthrough video of one day at a driving school, with its captions written out underneath

  8. Meet the Passdesk cars, a tidier Purchases page and clearer terms

    Pick a little car to keep you company, find a purchase’s actions without scrolling, and read clearer terms about who owns what.

    • Pip, Ellie and Sprout are three friendly cars. Pick one, or none, in My account, and it turns up on empty pages, in Help and when you pass, never during a lesson
    • Each purchase on Purchases keeps its main button in view, with everything else in one menu on the row
    • Adjust lesson balance takes hours and minutes in separate boxes, so there’s no turning hours into minutes first
    • Moving one lesson of a repeating series to a different day makes it a one-off, and the move dialog tells you so
    • Section 8 of the terms now lists what belongs to Passdesk Ltd, including the apps, the API, our help guides and our characters, and what needs our written permission to copy
    • Your content, from student records to your logo, stays yours, as it always has

  9. Passkey sign-in, and student set-up emails

    Sign in with your fingerprint, face or device PIN instead of typing a password, and new students get a clear email to set up their account.

    • Add a passkey from My account, or when Passdesk offers one after you sign in, then sign in with your fingerprint, face or device PIN
    • New students get an email that explains how to set up their account, and you can send it again from their record until they first sign in
    • School info asks before you leave with changes you haven’t saved
    • Finishing the setup wizard takes you straight to your dashboard, first time

  10. Report and block in messages, and a faster sign-in page

    Report someone’s messages to us or block them from the web as well as the app, and the sign-in page loads faster.

    • A conversation’s menu has Report messages and Block on the web, as it does in the app
    • The sign-in page loads less before you can type, so it opens faster on a slow connection
    • Lots of small fixes to error messages, limits and checks across the app

  11. Pay per text, and typo checks on email addresses

    Texts carry on at 4p each once your starting credit is used, or buy text packs instead, and sign-up and booking forms catch a mistyped email address.

    • After your £4 text credit, texts cost 4p each on your monthly bill, up to a monthly cap. Prefer to pay up front? Choose text packs on Billing
    • Sign-up and booking forms spot a likely typo in an email address, such as gmial.com, and offer the fix
    • You now confirm your email address before your first sign-in

  12. Invoices on Billing, and text credit

    See and download every invoice from the Billing page, and texts now come from a one-off starting credit like AI does.

    • The Billing page lists your invoices, each with a PDF to download
    • Every school starts with £4 of text credit, about 100 texts, that never runs out by date. You’re told at 80% and when it’s used
    • Coming back from GoCardless, HMRC or Checkout shows one message, not several
    • Needs attention cards on the dashboard line up at one height

  13. Switch accounts, and more for CBT days

    Move between the accounts you hold under one email without signing out, run CBT days with online payments, moves, own-bike prices and rider packages, and find your past Help chats again.

    • If you have more than one account under the same email, switch between them from the account menu with that account’s password
    • Riders can pay what’s left on a CBT place online, and move or cancel their own place up to the notice your school sets
    • Staff can move a rider to another CBT day, or pay a place with a gift voucher
    • CBT days can have a cheaper price for riders bringing their own bike, and course days count towards instructor earnings
    • Lesson packages can be for car learners, riders or both
    • Your past Help chats are kept after you sign out, and asking the same question again on the same page costs no AI credit
    • If your browser has blocked the microphone, voice input says how to allow it

  14. Skills sheets to print, and help when AI credit runs out

    Print a skills sheet for each learner on a day’s lessons, see your hours saved on the monthly report, and if your school’s AI credit runs out, ask the owner for a top-up in one tap.

    • The day sheet on the schedule can print a skills page for each learner you’re teaching
    • Instructors and learners who run out of AI credit can send the school owner a ready-written top-up request
    • Each learner’s help questions can use up to 25p of the school’s AI credit a month, so no one learner can use it all
    • The monthly value report estimates the hours Passdesk saved you
    • Instructor pages have the same top bar and side menu as the rest of the school, and empty Needs attention cards fold down to a count

  15. Book more weeks, and pause instead of leaving

    Repeat a learner’s lessons for the weeks ahead in a couple of taps, give a group of learners one voucher code, and pause your subscription for a month or three instead of cancelling.

    • Book more weeks from any lesson books the same day, time and instructor for the weeks after, and Add lessons has Repeat for 4, 8 or 12 weeks buttons
    • Saved lesson templates now live inside Add lessons, as Book lessons
    • A gift voucher you issue can be used by several learners, once each
    • Schools on monthly billing can pause for one to three months from the cancel screen, and pick up where they left off

  16. A New button for the things you add most

    The top bar has a New button for booking a lesson, adding a learner, recording a payment or adding time off, and your own teaching pages sit together in the side menu.

    • New in the top bar books a lesson, adds a learner, records a cash payment or adds a day off, depending on what you can do
    • If you teach, Earnings, Saved locations, My routes and your Standards check sit together under My teaching in the side menu
    • Course warnings for bike schools link straight to Sites, bikes and instructors

  17. Edit time off, and a tidier menu

    Instructors can change a day off they’ve already added, links in messages open with a tap, and the menu only shows the extras your school uses.

    • Edit a time-off entry from the Today card or the schedule, instead of deleting it and adding it again
    • Web addresses, email addresses and UK phone numbers in messages can be tapped
    • Franchise fees, Regions, API keys and Webhooks join the menu once you say in School info that your school uses them, and the setup wizard has an Extras step for them
    • The top bar gathers Help, Teaching and your account into fewer icons, and the side menu remembers where you’d scrolled
    • Competency ratings are picked from five circles, and day pickers have an Every day button
    • Upgrading your plan or adding seats shows the amount first and is invoiced straight away
    • Help answers come back faster

  18. Ask Passdesk, and bike schools welcome

    Every school can now ask Passdesk for help in plain English or set up bookings by typing or speaking, with £4 of AI credit to start. Schools in England, Scotland and Wales that teach riders can run CBT days, and instructors can turn voice memos into lesson notes.

    • The help assistant and Ask Passdesk are on for every school: ask how something works, or type or say a booking, a move or time off and confirm it
    • Every school starts with £4 of AI credit and every solo learner with £2. It doesn’t run out by date, and you can top up with a £5 pack whenever you need more
    • Instructors can record a voice memo after a lesson and get it written up, with suggested skill marks to check
    • Bike schools in England, Scotland and Wales can say they teach riders during setup, then run CBT days with places, bookings, element sign-off and DL196 certificates
    • Schools that would rather not set up alone can book the optional setup service from Billing: a call, your packages and policies set up with you, your data moved across and a check-in after your first week
    • The side menu can be dragged to fold down to icons or hide away

  19. Fewer messages, clearer setup

    Instructors get one reminder per lesson instead of six, owners can stop their weekly and monthly emails, and the setup wizard now has a step for bringing your learners across from your old system.

    • Instructors get one reminder per lesson, the day before or two hours before if it was booked later, rather than a bell, push and email at both times
    • School owners can stop the Monday summary and the monthly report for themselves from the link at the bottom of each email
    • New schools choose whether learners are asked for a review after they pass, from Student dashboard settings. Existing schools keep their setting
    • The setup wizard has a Your learners step: import learners, upcoming lessons and packages from your old system, invite learners by email, or start fresh
    • A new school’s dashboard shows setup once, and the checklist can be folded away while you work through it

  20. A quicker start for new schools

    Setting up a new school takes less typing: the setup wizard starts from your own details, prices your starter lessons from your hourly rate and asks for your test centres and cancellation notice. Solo learners now get two weeks to try Passdesk free.

    • The setup wizard fills in your email and phone for you, and the dashboard stops asking for steps you’ve already done
    • Starter lessons and packages are priced from the hourly rate you give, so the list is ready to use
    • The wizard asks for your test centres and how much notice you need for a cancellation
    • The solo learner free trial is now 14 days, up from 7
    • Planning a practice drive warns you when it overlaps one you’ve already planned
    • Your test, handled shows the last day you can change your test for free as a plain date, such as Sun 8 Nov

  21. Ask Claude or ChatGPT about your diary

    Every school plan can now connect Claude or ChatGPT to Passdesk, so you can ask about your diary, your learners and who owes what in plain English. Instructors also see the moments they marked during a lesson when they finish it, schools can buy up to five AI credit or recording-mile packs in one go, and solo learners can plan a practice drive ahead.

    • Any school plan can connect an AI assistant to read your diary, learners and balances. Booking and cancelling through an assistant stays on Scale
    • The End of lesson page now lists the moments the instructor marked during the lesson, with their times, above the skills
    • Buy up to five AI credit or recording-mile packs in one checkout, at the same price per pack, from your billing page
    • The in-app assistant answers questions again after a fault stopped it replying
    • Solo learners can plan a practice drive ahead with their supervising driver, with a reminder the evening before and another an hour before, and start it from their home page when the time comes

  22. Progress people can feel

    Learners hear when their lesson recap is ready and see one clear next step on their home page. Parents hear about the big moments and get a short Monday email. Owners see what needs them first.

    • Learners get a notification when their instructor’s lesson recap is ready, and it opens on that lesson
    • A learner’s home page now leads with one next step and their skills score, and after a pass it shows a You passed card with an image they can choose to share
    • Parents and supervising drivers hear when their learner is nearly test-ready and when they pass, and get a Monday email about the week. Schools can switch the email off
    • School students see their weekly practice streak, and My test walks them through the steps to test day
    • The Monday summary for owners now names who passed
    • The dashboard puts what needs you first, including new enquiries
    • Cancelling your subscription now starts in Passdesk, with a reminder to download your data first
    • The lesson importer brings a switching school’s upcoming lessons across, without double-booking
    • New schools now get a 30-day free trial

  23. Instructors can put time back

    Instructors can now add or take away lesson time for the learners they teach, and a lesson that ran over offers to credit the extra straight back. Schools in Northern Ireland get their own DVA test centres.

    • Instructors can adjust the lesson balance of a learner they teach, from the learner’s page, without needing access to payments
    • A finished lesson that ran past its booked time shows how long it went over, with a button to credit the extra back to the learner
    • Schools in Northern Ireland now pick from the DVA’s test centres, and other UK schools no longer see them
    • A learner you remove keeps any unpaid charges in Outstanding until they’re paid or written off
    • Making Tax Digital figures now count every one-off charge you take, including ones paid in cash or by bank transfer
    • Refunds, replies to your feedback, verification decisions and a school’s request to add a parent now send a notification as well as appearing in the bell

  24. Fairer late cancellations

    A short-notice cancellation now asks who it was down to. Learners pay the late fee only when they cancelled, and when you cancel late they get free lesson time instead.

    • Cancelling inside your cancellation window asks whether the student or the school cancelled. Only the student side charges the late-cancellation fee, and moving a lesson never charges anyone
    • When the school cancels at short notice, the learner gets free lesson time added to their hours, worth at least your late-cancellation fee
    • Learners are asked to confirm a late cancellation put down to them. If they say it wasn’t them, the fee is cancelled and you and their instructor are told
    • Schools that rarely cancel at short notice can show it on their school page
    • Changing a lesson’s start time now moves the end time with it, so the lesson keeps its length, and the change shows in the diary straight away
    • Every figure on the dashboard now opens the page behind it
    • Find a test centre by name or town from Test routes, and add one from the full list when it’s missing
    • Recording a practice route in your browser saves at any length, up to 50 miles a route, and shows the distance in miles
    • An expense without a receipt now reminds you to add a photo, in case HMRC asks
    • When a learner disputes a card payment, every owner hears straight away by email and notification, with the date your evidence is due
    • A failed Direct Debit instalment, an unpaid pay-after lesson or a teammate leaving with lessons booked now sends a notification, not just a note in the bell, and the dashboard offers to turn notifications on

  25. Smoother road to test day

    Learners, parents and instructors now get more help between booking the practical test and taking it, and your school page tells new learners whether you have room for them.

    • My test now offers Book lessons when some of the lessons still needed aren’t booked yet, and reminds learners to ask for a lesson just before the test in their instructor’s car
    • Learners and their instructors get a heads-up when the theory certificate will run out before the practical test
    • Parents can see when their learner has been signed off as ready to book, with a short guide to how booking works, and get a notice when that changes
    • Your school page and the directory say whether you’re taking new learners, with the next free first lesson when you are
    • Schools in Northern Ireland now see the DVA’s rules instead of DVSA booking tools, including the earliest date a learner can take their test

  26. Find test centres near you, and snap receipts

    Type your postcode and Passdesk now lists the nearest test centres first. You can attach a photo of a receipt as you log an expense, reordering on a phone no longer picks up a row when you only meant to scroll, and the diary opens faster at busy schools.

    • Search test centres with a full postcode, your own or a learner’s, and the closest centres come first. A centre’s postcode typed without its space now finds it too
    • Attach the receipt as you log an expense. On a phone, Take a photo opens the camera, and the photo uploads when you press Log expense
    • On a phone, reordering skills, products or your signup form now starts only when you press and hold a row’s handle, so scrolling past it leaves the order alone
    • A completed mock test in the diary now offers Mark mock test straight from the lesson
    • Booking or moving a lesson outside the hours a student said they’re free now shows those hours, and asks you to confirm you’ve agreed the time with them
    • A student’s own calendar now hides cancelled and no-show lessons too, and both calendars remember whether you’ve chosen to show them
    • The diary loads quicker, most noticeably when you look at a busy fortnight at once

  27. Send the bank documents in a dispute

    When a student disputes a card payment, you can now back up your reply with documents as well as a written account. Passdesk can build the key records for you.

    • Add records builds three PDFs from what Passdesk already holds: the student’s lessons since the payment, the terms they agreed to and when, and a receipt
    • Upload your own PDFs, photos and screenshots too, such as messages with the student. We delete these files 120 days after the dispute closes
    • Form labels now sit above each field instead of in its border, so they’re easier to read
    • Passdesk loads faster the first time you open it
    • When you add a student, the guardian check updates as soon as you change their date of birth, and the guardian’s email can’t be the student’s own

  28. Undo a deleted lesson, and record your other income

    Deleted a lesson or a rating by mistake? You can now put it straight back. School owners can also record income Passdesk didn’t take, so their tax figures cover the whole business.

    • Deleting a lesson from the diary or a student’s page shows an Undo button. The lesson comes back with its pay-after charge, unless that time has been booked since
    • Deleting a learner’s latest competency rating can be undone the same way
    • Record other business income, such as work you were paid for outside Passdesk, on the Expenses page. It counts towards turnover in your Making Tax Digital figures and in every accounting export
    • The sidebar is tidier. The pages you use every day stay under Operations, the one-off setup pages such as Import data and Vehicles sit under Set up, and API keys, Webhooks and Audit log have moved into Settings
    • Pages are easier to read and to use with a keyboard or screen reader. We checked every page against the WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility standard, in light and dark mode, and fixed what fell short. Our new accessibility statement lists the gaps that remain and how to tell us about a problem

  29. Ready-by estimates and your month at a glance

    Instructors can now share an estimate of when a learner will be ready for their test, so it’s easier to pick a date they can make. School owners also get a dashboard card showing what Passdesk took care of for them each month.

    • The Practical test card suggests a ready-by range from the learner’s progress and how often they have lessons. Adjust it if you like, then share it and the learner sees it on My test
    • A new dashboard card shows the cancelled slots the waitlist refilled, the fees collected, the payments that came in without chasing and the reminders sent. Open any line to see the lessons and payments behind it
    • The weekly summary and gone-quiet email switches on School info now save properly
    • Test dates and times always show on your school’s clock
    • When several instructors teach at the same time, the week view shows two lessons side by side and a “+N more” link that opens the day, instead of squeezing every lesson into a sliver

  30. Test bookings, test availability and lesson sketches

    Learners can now record their own DVSA test booking in Passdesk, so you can see it, sign them off and follow every change. Instructors also get a page that lays out their availability ready for DVSA, and a sketch pad for drawing junctions during a lesson.

    • Learners add their booking on My test, and the Practical test card shows the date, centre, how many changes they’ve used and their last free change date
    • Sign a learner off with Ready to book, or leave a dated Not ready yet note of what to work on. They see either one on My test
    • Test availability on the Schedule page lays out your usual week and the times you can’t do over the next 12 weeks, ready to copy into DVSA’s availability service
    • Draw on a roundabout, crossroads, T-junction or the map while you brief. The learner sees the sketch on their Progress page once the lesson is completed, and so do their parents

  31. Record practice routes from your phone’s browser

    Recording a practice route live from your phone’s web browser now works. Your browser will ask to use your location the first time you press Start recording.

    • Choosing a test centre on a phone opens the list on top of the route form, where you can search and tap one
    • If your school offers pay after each lesson, your public page and learner signup now say so, and learners can see they won’t need to buy a block of lessons up front
    • Your reminder and billing settings now say plainly that texts are included in your plan up to a monthly fair-use limit, at no extra charge

  32. Focus mode for a clearer screen

    A new Focus mode button in the top bar takes the navigation and sidebar off screen, so only the page you’re working on is left. Handy when you’re showing a learner their progress or sharing your screen.

    • Turn it on from the top bar, or press Ctrl + \ (⌘ + \ on a Mac)
    • The Exit focus mode button sits in the bottom-right corner. It fades after a few seconds and comes back when you move the mouse over it
    • It’s for computers only, and it stays on for that browser tab until you turn it off

  33. Parents can pay, clearer pass rates, and quiet lesson moves

    A parent or supervising driver you’ve marked as paying can now pay for lessons from their Family page. Your Pass rates report counts every test, the same way your public pass rate does, and you can move a lesson without messaging the learner when it’s only a small fix.

    • Pass rates counts every practical test, retakes included, so a learner who failed twice and then passed counts as one pass and two fails
    • Moving a lesson in the diary drawer has a Tell the learner switch, for a time change they don’t need a message about
    • Learners can still mark their own skills, and you’ll see their marks beside yours, but only your marks count on the progress checklist and readiness
    • A parent who pays for lessons can settle what the school is waiting for, or buy your packages and top-ups for their learner at your prices. The hours go to the learner, and the parent gets their own receipt
    • Car washes and kit fitted to the car, like dual controls, are left out of your claim on a car that takes the HMRC mileage rate, the same as fuel and repairs. L-plates and roof signs have their own category and are still claimed
    • If an instructor or member of staff leaves and their account is deleted, the messages they sent stay in your learners’ conversations, shown as from a former staff member
    • Theory practice points learners to the DVSA’s guide and Theory Test Pro for hazard perception clips
    • Something not working? Report a problem from Help, and if Help can’t answer you, it fills in the report for you
    • When Passdesk support makes a change in your school, your audit log shows Passdesk Support rather than an email address
    • Trainee instructors add their DVSA reference number when they sign up, to start their free trainee period. No number yet? Start on the 14-day trial and add it from Billing later

  34. Record refunds you hand back yourself

    When you give a student money back in cash or by bank transfer, you can now record it against their purchase, so their hours and your money reports stay right.

    • Record a refund on a purchase paid in cash or by bank transfer. Say how much you handed back and how, and add a note if you like
    • Hand it back in parts if you need to: Passdesk keeps a running total and won’t let you refund more than was paid
    • Card and Direct Debit payments still refund the way they always have, through Stripe and GoCardless

  35. Pay after each lesson, logins for parents, and franchise fees

    Students can save a card and pay for each lesson once they’ve had it, instead of buying hours up front. It’s off until you turn it on, and the money goes straight to your Stripe account. Parents and supervising drivers can also have a login of their own to follow a student’s lessons, and schools with franchised instructors can work out their fees and statements in Passdesk.

    • Turn on Pay after each lesson under School info, set the price an hour, and choose whether any student or only the ones you pick can use it
    • Students save their card from How you pay on Purchases, and a lesson is charged when it’s marked done. If a card is declined, Passdesk tries again a day later and three days after the lesson, and tells the student each time
    • Mark as done, on a finished lesson in the diary or on Lesson payments, charges a lesson nobody ended
    • Lesson payments, under Money, shows this month’s lesson charges, who pays this way and what needs your attention. A student’s record shows how they pay: their card, the wording they agreed to and their price
    • A parent can pay instead: the student sends them a link and they add their own card
    • Refunding a lesson charge asks whether the lesson happened, and deleting a paid lesson asks whether to refund it
    • Late-cancel and no-show fees go on the saved card too, when the wording the student agreed to names the fee
    • Add a parent or supervising driver from a student’s record. They get a Family page with the next lesson, test readiness and what to practise, and can log the drives they do together
    • In Great Britain, online booking only offers times an instructor can drive to from their previous lesson and still leave in time for the next. You can switch it off in your booking settings
    • Office staff no longer take a seat on any plan, and the Instructor plan now covers 60 learners
    • Franchise fees, under Money on Team and Scale: give each franchised instructor a plan with a weekly or monthly fee, free weeks, a new-student fee, a share of takings or a fee per hour, then issue statements that net their fees from the lesson money your school collects
    • Instructors see their franchise plan, statements and free weeks on Earnings
    • Changing a lesson’s date or time in the diary drawer now tells the student, the same as dragging it

  36. Fill diary gaps, and say you’re running late

    A free gap in your diary can go straight to the learners most likely to take it, and the first to say yes is booked. Instructors can also tell a learner they’re on their way, running late or outside, right from the next lesson.

    • Click a free gap in the diary and choose Offer to students. Passdesk ranks who’s most likely to want it, offers it to the top three by app notification or text, and books whoever accepts first. If nobody has within 20 minutes, the next three get it
    • Learners can set when they can drive under My account, so offers go to people who can make it
    • On an instructor’s next lesson, On my way, Running late and I’m here show on the learner’s dashboard, and go by text too if you’ve turned on texts for lesson changes
    • Today shows what happened last time for each learner: the focus you set and the skills you marked
    • Tax exports can make import files for Xero and FreeAgent, and cover the tax year so far
    • The MTD export and Expenses no longer claim a flat-rate car’s running costs twice
    • Standards check marks a risk management total of 7 or less as a fail, not only a 0
    • Owners and instructors can keep track of the bugs and ideas they’ve sent us under My feedback

  37. Instructor regions, and a few fixes before the clocks go back

    Schools on Team and Scale can split their patch into regions, so online booking offers each learner the instructors who cover where they live. There are also a handful of smaller changes you’ll notice day to day.

    • Set up regions under Operations: name an area, add its postcode districts and pick the instructors who cover it
    • When you use regions, online booking asks for the learner’s pickup postcode first and offers the instructors who cover it
    • Filter students, the waitlist, enquiries and the diary by region, and see pass rates by region
    • A practical test result entered by mistake can now be removed from the learner’s record
    • A pending charge’s amount can be corrected before its pay link goes out
    • An instructor’s earnings now show the same utilisation as the school’s report, clock-change weeks included, and say which hours it’s measured against
    • Calendar feeds, test countdowns and reminders stay right when the clocks go back on 25 October
    • Staff see the support conversations they started. The rest stay with whoever can edit school info

  38. Free trials start without a card

    Schools and solo learners no longer need a card to start their free trial. Subscribe from inside Passdesk whenever you’re ready, and the days left on your trial carry over.

    • Schools start their 14-day trial with no card, as they have since 27 September, and subscribe from Billing when they’re ready
    • Solo learners start their 7-day trial with no card, and subscribe from Subscription in their account
    • Subscribe with at least two days of your trial left and those days carry over, so the first payment is taken when the trial would have ended. In the last two days, the first payment is taken straight away
    • We email you three days before your trial ends. If you haven’t subscribed by then, your account locks until you do, and you can still sign in, subscribe and download your data
    • An under-18 learner’s parent or guardian still confirms by email first. There’s no card involved, and confirming never charges anything: it starts the learner’s free trial, or unlocks the account if they’ve had one before

  39. Bring back what you deleted, and tax exports on your own calendar

    Receipts, lesson photos and voice notes you delete can be restored for 30 days, and so can expenses and lesson templates. The MTD export now runs its quarters by your school’s clock and counts top-ups and instalments as the money comes in.

    • A receipt you remove or replace, and a lesson photo or voice note you delete, can be restored for 30 days
    • Deleting an expense or a lesson template can be undone
    • MTD quarters and tax years run from midnight to midnight in your school’s time zone, and the Expenses tax year runs to the end of 5 April
    • The MTD export counts top-ups as income, counts an instalment plan as each instalment is paid, and carries the 10,000-mile band across the quarters of a tax year
    • Amounts in imports and the instalment deposit are read the way your school writes money, decimal comma or full stop
    • If you lose signal, your changes wait on your device and send when you’re back. Signing out tells you how many are still waiting
    • When a learner’s account is erased, your school keeps its sales and the lessons they were taught, without their name

  40. More on the learner’s record, and terms everyone agrees to

    A learner’s record now shows their email and the licence details they gave when they set up their account. Learners a school adds or imports now agree to the Passdesk terms themselves the first time they sign in.

    • Personal details on a learner’s record shows their email, provisional licence number, theory test pass date and certificate number
    • Anyone who hasn’t agreed to the terms of service yet, such as a learner you added or imported, is asked to before they carry on. People who agreed when they signed up or accepted an invite aren’t asked again
    • Editing the notes on a card payment from a learner’s record no longer fails
    • A school on a smaller plan can revoke API keys and turn off webhook endpoints left over from a bigger one

  41. A diary that shows the whole team at once

    Day view now lays the school out one column per instructor, and the diary now points things out: the gap worth filling, the lesson booked too far from the last one, and whose driving test is today. Moving a lesson can be undone.

    • Day view shows a column for each instructor, with their working hours shaded and their time off hatched. Each column has a menu to add a lesson, suggest their lesson order, show only them or print their day sheet
    • Hover over a lesson to see who it’s with, when, where you’re meeting and the car
    • Add lessons tells you what it will book and what it will have to skip, and why, before you press anything
    • Learners with a practical test that day are pinned at the top of the diary. Press the pin to book a pre-test lesson or open the test lesson
    • A free half-hour to hour and a half between two lessons shows as a dashed block that books straight into it
    • A lesson that starts within minutes of the last one ending in another postcode district carries a warning
    • Undo a drag or resize from the confirmation message
    • The date button opens a month grid, the day headers stay put as you scroll, and the arrow keys move the diary

  42. Which car a learner needs, and test results from the record

    Learners joining the waitlist can say whether they need a manual or an automatic, and staff can record a practical test result straight from the learner’s record. There are also fixes to earnings, forgotten passwords and the bulk-email allowance.

    • Learners choose Any car, Manual only or Automatic only when they join the waitlist, and are only offered slots that fit
    • Record a pass or fail from the learner’s record, with the centre, faults and notes, and it settles the test already in the diary
    • The No-shows card now lists late cancels too
    • Earnings count a lesson as paid only while the learner’s package hours cover it
    • One forgot-password link resets every account on that email address, and sign-in still works when the bot check can’t load
    • Owners are told when the school’s monthly bulk-email allowance runs out, and the message log shows what was held back

  43. Receipts, school terms and test day in the diary

    Receipts, your own school terms, and test days that hold their place in the diary. Owners also get an instructor revenue report, and can export everything the school holds in one download.

    • Learners get an emailed receipt when they pay, with a printable copy in their account
    • Learners accept your school’s terms, and each learner’s record shows which version they accepted and when
    • Put a learner’s practical test in the diary from their record, so nobody books over it
    • Privacy mode, colour by instructor and a printable day sheet on the schedule
    • Reply to reviews in public, or dispute one you think is unfair, from a new Reviews page

  44. More for learners between lessons

    Learners can now look back on each lesson in their own words, see their mock tests marked fault by fault, and practise the show me, tell me questions.

    • After each lesson, learners note what went well and what to work on, and their instructor sees it before the next one
    • Mock tests marked like the real test report, and learners can see every fault
    • Show me, tell me practice for UK learners, using the official GOV.UK questions
    • Instructor photos and short bios, on your public page and in your learners’ lesson details

  45. 910 theory questions, checked against the Highway Code

    The theory bank is complete: 910 practice questions, 65 in each of the 14 test categories. Before adding the last batch, we checked every existing question against the current Highway Code and gov.uk, and corrected 70.

    • 910 questions across all 14 theory-test categories
    • Every question checked against the current Highway Code
    • 70 existing questions corrected, from rule numbers to road markings

  46. Fewer slips with money and the diary

    A run of fixes aimed at the mistakes that cost a lesson or a payment. Anything that can’t be undone now asks first, and calendar sync no longer blocks the lessons it copies out.

    • Nine actions that can’t be undone now ask before they go ahead
    • Dispute evidence saves as a draft until you choose to send it to the bank
    • Calendar sync no longer blocks the lessons it copies to your calendar
    • Tax export mileage uses the HMRC rate in force on the day of each journey

  47. Enquiries that turn into learners

    Any enquiry in your inbox can now become a learner in one step, with their details already filled in. Webhooks, which send your school’s updates to the other tools you use, now come with the Team plan.

    • Add an enquiry as a learner, with their details carried across
    • A website or call-answering service that works with Passdesk can send enquiries straight to your inbox
    • Webhooks on the Team plan as well as Scale
    • See every app connected to your school, and disconnect any of them

  48. Good news gets noticed too

    As well as flagging what needs attention, Passdesk now tells people when things go well, from a learner moving up a readiness band to an instructor’s learner passing their test.

    • Learners hear when they move up a readiness band or reach a milestone
    • Instructors can see their own pass rate, and hear when one of their learners passes
    • Owners hear when a new review of their school is published
    • A weekly practice streak on the learner dashboard

  49. A light theme, matched to your device

    Passdesk now comes in light as well as dark, and by default it follows whatever your phone or laptop is set to. You can pick one yourself, and it’s remembered.

    • Light theme across the app and this website
    • Follows your device by default; your own choice is remembered
    • Softer accent colours on icons, and red is reserved for things that are wrong

  50. Solo learners stop paying when they are done

    A solo learner who has passed, or who has stopped using Passdesk, is no longer billed indefinitely. Passing offers to close the subscription; a long gap does it automatically.

    • Pass your test and Passdesk offers to stop the subscription there
    • A dormant account is cancelled rather than billed indefinitely
    • A stop button in the account page, no email needed

  51. Refer a school, get a month free

    Every school has a referral link. When a school you send over converts to a paid plan, your next invoice is free. There is also a new guide for anyone moving across from another diary app.

    • Referral link and reward in your billing page
    • A step-by-step switching guide, including what your export needs to contain
    • Faster switching between schools if you run more than one

  52. A comparison hub and a press kit

    A dated, sourced comparison of Passdesk against the other UK diary apps, and a press kit for journalists.

    • Comparison hub with the date every figure was checked
    • Gift vouchers are checked against the price of what they are redeemed for

  53. Passdesk works with AI assistants

    On the Scale plan, an AI assistant can read your diary and make bookings on your behalf through a secure connection you approve. The public API gained schedule writes at the same time.

    • Connect an AI assistant with your own sign-in, revocable at any time
    • Public API v1.1 can now create and change lessons
    • Team and Scale repriced to £99 and £199 a month

  54. Your place on the page, always in view

    Every page now keeps a back button and the page title pinned at the top as you scroll.

    • Sticky back and title bar on every page
    • Calendar sync connect and disconnect fixed end to end
    • Lesson details drawer matches the calendar it opened from

  55. Publish a practice route

    Routes you have recorded can be published to your test-centre page, where learners searching for that centre can find them and get in touch with you.

    • Choose which of your routes are public, per test centre
    • Published routes appear on the public test-centre pages
    • Enquiries from those pages land in your inbox as leads

  56. School trials are 14 days

    The school trial is now 14 days rather than 30. It is the same full product with no charge during the trial, and solo learners keep their 7 days.

    • 14-day trial for schools, 7 days for solo learners
    • Card taken at signup and verified, never charged during the trial

  57. Test-date planning, drift alerts and parent links

    Set a learner’s test date and Passdesk works backwards from it. If someone starts slipping behind that plan, you get an alert.

    • Test date per learner, with a readiness view built around it
    • Alerts when a learner drifts off their plan
    • Link a parent or guardian to a learner’s account
    • Broadcast a message to many learners; replies come back as normal 1:1 threads

  58. Pay in instalments by Direct Debit

    Split a package into monthly instalments collected by Direct Debit.

    • Instalment plans on any package
    • Collected automatically by Direct Debit
    • WhatsApp replies steer back into the right conversation, with unread nudges

  59. Book without an account

    A learner who lands on your public page can book and pay for a lesson without creating an account first. The account is created behind the scenes once they have paid.

    • Guest checkout on your public booking page
    • Card payment taken at the point of booking
    • The learner lands in your workspace like any other student

  60. Record a practice route while you drive

    Drive a route once and Passdesk records it. Save it, export it as GPX, and see all your routes at once on a single map with a colour each.

    • Record a route from the car
    • Export to GPX, or draw one by hand from point to point
    • All-routes overview map, one colour per route
    • 50 recording miles free per user, top-ups never expire

  61. Test-centre finder and public school directory

    Public pages for every DVSA test centre, and a searchable directory of the schools using Passdesk.

    • A page for every DVSA practical test centre
    • Searchable directory of schools on Passdesk
    • Your public page is listed automatically once you publish it

  62. Calendar sync and the expense ledger

    Connect Google Calendar or Outlook and your lessons appear there automatically. Separately, log expenses and mileage as you go, ready for the tax exports.

    • Google Calendar and Microsoft 365 sync, one connection per school
    • Expense ledger with receipt photos and mileage
    • AI lesson debriefs written straight after a lesson

  63. Faster public school pages

    Your public school page and the new pricing and features pages now load faster and look right when shared. We also published a plain-English write-up of how we look after your data.

    • Public school pages load noticeably quicker
    • Pages preview cleanly when shared on social or WhatsApp
    • Dedicated pricing and features pages, easier to find in Google
    • Full plain-English privacy and security write-up

  64. Brand refresh and new home at passdesk.co.uk

    A new look and a new home on the web. The product and your data are unchanged, and there’s nothing for you to do. Your school colours still show on your public page as before.

    • New look across the app, emails, and public pages
    • Everything now lives at passdesk.co.uk
    • Your school’s own brand colour is preserved