Two things changed for MOT test centres this year, and neither of them changes the test. That is worth saying first, because most of what gets written about MOT changes is written for motorists, and for motorists, nothing has changed at all. The RAC's summary of the 2026 changes puts it plainly: the test itself remains exactly the same for vehicle owners.
For the people running test centres, both changes matter.
Photos at test are rolling out nationally
DVSA published MOT Special Notice 04-26 on 29 July 2026, and it took effect on 3 August 2026 across England, Scotland and Wales.
The notice adds a feature to the MOT testing service that, in DVSA's words, "will allow MOT testers to take and upload a photo of a vehicle at the time of its test using a smartphone, tablet or other compatible mobile device."
Around 2,500 garages across Great Britain get access during this first phase of the rollout. It follows a trial that ran through 2025.
The purpose is fraud prevention. A photo taken at the point of test, attached to the vehicle record, is hard to produce for a vehicle that never arrived, which is the whole mechanism behind a "ghost MOT", a pass certificate issued for a car nobody looked at. Photographic evidence on the record makes that considerably harder to do and considerably easier to detect afterwards.
What it actually changes on the floor
Not much, procedurally. A photo, on a phone, at the bay. But "not much" and "no friction" are different things, and the difference shows up in three places.
Whose phone. The notice specifies a smartphone, tablet or other compatible mobile device. If your testers are using personal phones, decide now whether that is what you want long-term, not after someone leaves with a camera roll of your work on it.
When in the test. The photo is taken at the time of test. That means it has to happen while the vehicle is there and the tester is on the bay, not reconstructed later from memory. In practice that means it has to be part of the routine rather than a step someone remembers.
Signal. Uploads need a connection. Most workshops have a dead spot somewhere, usually the far bay or the ramp against the back wall, and it is worth knowing where yours is before it becomes an argument.
None of this is difficult. It is the sort of change that goes smoothly if you spend ten minutes on it and badly if you do not.
The bit that is already familiar
If your technicians already photograph vehicles for health checks, this is the same action, on the same device, at the same point in the job. That is the honest reason it should not feel like a new burden: a workshop running digital VHCs has technicians who photograph cars all day.
The habit is the hard part, and a workshop doing digital vehicle health checks has already built it. If yours has not, the photo requirement is a reasonable prompt to look at how work gets evidenced generally, because a photo that satisfies DVSA and a photo that sells a brake job to a customer are, physically, the same photo.
Our technician companion app exists because the phone in a technician's hand is where the job actually happens. This change is DVSA reaching the same conclusion.
The other change: cessation now bars every MOT role
Separately, and with less coverage, the disciplinary rules tightened from 9 January 2026.
Anyone receiving a two-year or five-year cessation is now barred from holding any MOT role for the duration of that cessation. It applies to testers and to businesses with serious sanctions against them.
Previously a cessation in one role did not necessarily close off the others. Now it does. If you are recruiting a tester, or bringing someone into an AE role, the consequence is worth understanding. A sanction is no longer a problem confined to the job it was issued against.
What to do this month
- Check whether you are in phase one. Around 2,500 garages have it now. If you are not among them, you will be.
- Decide the device question before your testers decide it for you.
- Find your dead spot. Walk the workshop with a phone and see where the upload stalls.
- Fold it into the existing routine. If technicians already photograph vehicles, this is one more photo, not one more process.
- Read the notice itself. This article summarises it; it does not replace it.
Where to check the current position
Both changes are DVSA's, and DVSA's own documents are the authority. This article summarises MOT Special Notice 04-26 as published, and the January change as reported by the RAC.
Rollout phases move and figures date. Check the notice for the current position before acting on anything here.
Checked against the sources above on 18 August 2026.
