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.

It takes no design skills or software. What it does take is knowing which documents a UK employer will ask for, which of them expire, and how to present your experience as evidence a recruiter can check.

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.

It counts 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. On the self-employed platforms, onboarding stalls on a missing document more often than on anything else. For the roles themselves, see our guide to becoming a delivery driver in the UK.

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

Paperwork is where applications stall, so start there.

Photocard licence and DVLA check code

The employer needs to see your licence categories, penalty points and any endorsements, and you show them with 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.

Basic DBS certificate

A Basic DBS check is a criminal record check that 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 £20, according to gov.uk. Employers will usually re-run a certificate more than a year or so old, so treat it as a document that ages.

National Insurance number and a UK bank account

Every platform and every payroll asks for both at onboarding.

MOT and hire and reward insurance, if you drive your own vehicle

Evri, DPD Connect, Just Eat and Deliveroo all want the MOT certificate and the insurance schedule, 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 also print the MOT history of any vehicle free from gov.uk, a useful page to include.

Driver CPC and tachograph cards, if you drive an HGV

Class 1 and Class 2 roles cannot start without both cards, and a recruiter will check the expiry date on the CPC card. Our HGV driver salary guide covers what those roles pay.

Proof of address

Some payrolls and most insurers ask for a recent utility bill or bank statement.

Step 2: show your driving experience clearly

Name the driving work you have done instead of writing "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)

Recruiters read the pattern closely. One 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. Volume says as much: "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, and on a borderline application that can tip the decision. Service Club ® runs training of this kind through its Academy, which drivers reach through an employer rather than as individuals, so mention it if a previous fleet put you through it.

Step 4: add proof, ratings and references

This is what backs up the word "reliable" on your CV:

• 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. They are the closest thing self-employed work has to a reference, and they show a recruiter whether you turn up
• 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"

Send the strongest three or four, because a long list tends to go unread, and blur out any customer names or addresses before you send a screenshot.

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

The content matters most, but the presentation tells a recruiter how you handle detail. Use sharp scans or clear phone photos: a cut-off scan of a licence is the first impression they get. Then put it together like this:

• 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 may still ask to see the physical licence at interview, but the portfolio is what gets you that 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 as it happens. Then when the right round comes up you can apply the same day with everything attached, and the driver who does that usually gets it.

Frequently asked questions

Putting your portfolio together

Our comparison of the best delivery driver jobs in the UK sets out the employed and self-employed options side by side, which helps you decide which rounds to point the portfolio at. Whichever you choose, scan the licence, generate the codes, order the DBS, add the ratings and put it all in one PDF this week, not the week a good round comes up.