How to build a professional driver portfolio

If you want the better driving jobs, a CV on its own is thin. A recruiter filling a van round wants to know three things fast: that you can legally drive it, that you will turn up, and that you will not be a risk on their insurance. A portfolio answers all three before the interview, and it is a folder of documents you mostly already have.

You do not need design skills or software. You need to know which documents a UK employer will ask for, which ones expire, and how to show your experience so it reads as evidence rather than as a claim. This guide goes through it step by step.

What a driver portfolio is

A portfolio is the set of documents and proof that shows you are a licensed, insured, reliable driver, kept in one place and ready to send. A CV says "experienced delivery driver". The portfolio shows a clean licence check, a Basic DBS certificate, two years of platform ratings and a reference from a depot manager.

The difference matters most on the employed rounds, at the supermarket fleets, UPS and the Amazon delivery partners, where a recruiter is checking documents for a dozen applicants a week and hires the one who made it easy. It also matters on the self-employed platforms, where onboarding stalls on a missing document more often than on anything else. Our guide to becoming a delivery driver in the UK covers the roles themselves; this one covers what you bring to them.

Step 1: gather the documents a UK employer will actually ask for

Start with the paperwork, because it is where applications stall. These are the documents UK driving employers and platforms ask for, and the detail that matters on each.

Your photocard driving licence and a DVLA check code. The employer needs to see your licence categories, penalty points and any endorsements, and the way to show them is a check code from gov.uk's View or share your driving licence information service. A code is valid for 21 days and can be used once, according to gov.uk, so generate a fresh one for each application rather than storing one in the folder. Keep a scan of the photocard, front and back, alongside it.

Proof of your right to work. British and Irish citizens use a passport or, if they do not hold one, a birth certificate with proof of National Insurance number. Everyone else generates a right to work share code from the Home Office online service, which is valid for 90 days and can be used as many times as needed within that window. A recruiter cannot legally put you on a round without this check, so having it ready saves days.

A Basic DBS certificate. A criminal record check at the Basic level, which shows unspent convictions and conditional cautions. Parcel networks, supermarket fleets and any role that enters customers' homes commonly ask for one, and some platforms run their own equivalent. You can apply directly to the Disclosure and Barring Service online from age 16; it costs £21.50, dropping to £20 from 5 October 2026, according to gov.uk. A certificate more than a year or so old will usually be re-run by the employer, so treat it as a document that ages.

Your National Insurance number and a UK bank account. Both are asked for at onboarding on every platform and every payroll.

If you drive your own vehicle: the MOT certificate and a hire and reward insurance schedule. Evri, DPD Connect, Just Eat and Deliveroo all want to see that the car or moped is roadworthy and that you hold cover for paid delivery work. Standard social, domestic and pleasure insurance does not count; the schedule needs to say hire and reward, or food delivery cover for a takeaway platform. Our delivery driver insurance cost guide explains what that policy is and what it costs. You can print the MOT history for any vehicle free from gov.uk, which is a useful page to include.

If you drive an HGV: the Driver CPC card and tachograph card. Class 1 and Class 2 roles cannot start without both, and the CPC card carries an expiry date a recruiter will check. Our HGV driver salary guide covers what those roles pay.

Proof of address. A recent utility bill or bank statement, asked for by some payrolls and most insurers.

Keep everything as sharp scans or clear phone photos, named sensibly, in one folder. A cut-off scan of a licence is the first impression a recruiter gets of how you handle detail.

Step 2: show your driving experience clearly

Next, show real driving work rather than "years of experience".

For each employer or platform, list:

• The name (Evri, Uber Eats, a supermarket fleet, a courier firm)
• Your role and dates ("Self-employed courier, Evri, March 2024 to present")
• The vehicle (hatchback, 3.5 tonne van, e-bike)
• The area or round you know well (postcodes, a city, a depot)
• The pattern you worked (nights, weekends, peak season through December)

That last line does more work than people expect. A recruiter filling an early-morning depot slot wants to see that you have done early starts; a store filling Friday and Saturday evenings wants to see that you have worked them. The volume matters too: "120 parcels a day on a dense urban round" tells a parcel depot exactly what you can handle.

Step 3: list your skills and training

Add a short skills and training section, kept to things a recruiter can use.

• Licence categories held, and how long you have held them (some fleets want a licence held for a year, some for three)
• Multi-drop experience, with the volume
• Safe or defensive driving courses, with the provider and date
• Customer-facing experience, particularly on rounds that enter homes
• Route planning and familiarity with the handheld scanners and apps the networks use
• Manual handling or first aid certificates
• Languages, where the round covers a community that speaks them

If you have completed structured online training, list it with the date. Employers running fleets increasingly ask about it because it lowers their insurance risk, which is the argument that gets a borderline application through. The Service Club Academy is one route to it, reached through an employer rather than as an individual, so mention it if a previous fleet put you through it.

Step 4: add proof, ratings and references

Anyone can claim to be reliable. Proof is what turns the portfolio into an argument.

• Screenshots of your platform ratings, with the delivery count and the date visible: an Uber Eats or Deliveroo rating, an Amazon Flex standing, an Evri failed-delivery rate if it is low. This is the closest thing self-employed work has to a reference, and it answers the question a recruiter is really asking
• A short written reference from a depot manager, store manager or fleet supervisor, with a phone number they have agreed to
• Any driver of the month or safety awards, with the employer named
• A one-line statistic that sums it up: "4,000 deliveries, 4.9 rating, no at-fault claims in three years"

Choose the strongest three or four pieces. A long list nobody reads is worse than a short one they do, and blur out any customer names or addresses before you send a screenshot.

Step 5: make it easy to read and easy to send

Content first, but presentation shows a recruiter how you handle detail, which is the job.

• One PDF, in a sensible order: CV, licence and check code, right to work, DBS, insurance and MOT, experience, proof
• Clear headings and short bullets, so the reader can find the DBS certificate in five seconds
• File names that say what they are, not "scan0043"
• A shared cloud folder as the digital version, with view-only access and a link you can paste into an application form or a text to a recruiter

Keep the originals safe and send copies. A recruiter who asks to see the physical licence at interview will still ask; the portfolio gets you to the interview.

Step 6: keep it current

Several of these documents expire, and a stale one is worse than a missing one because it suggests you did not check.

• The DVLA check code expires after 21 days: generate a new one per application
• A right to work share code expires after 90 days
• A Basic DBS certificate is a snapshot on the day it was issued, and most employers will re-run one more than a year old
• The MOT is annual and the insurance schedule renews annually, so replace both when they do
• A Driver CPC card carries its own expiry
• Ratings screenshots date quickly: refresh them every few months

Add each new platform, course, round and milestone when it happens rather than when you next need the folder. The point of a portfolio is that when the right round comes up, you apply the same day with everything attached, and the driver who does that usually gets it.

Frequently asked questions

Build it once, then apply the same day

Scan the licence, generate the codes, order the DBS, add the ratings, and put it in one PDF this week rather than the week a good round comes up. If you are deciding which rounds to point it at, our comparison of the best delivery driver jobs in the UK sets out the employed and self-employed options side by side. If you want to see who is hiring near you, the form below takes a minute.