SERU is an acronym for Safety, equality, and regulatory understanding. 

If you are a licensed private hire driver in London or want to become one, then you will need to complete the SERU assessment at some point.

Yes, all existing licensed private hire drivers in London will need to complete the SERU assessment at some point.  The SERU deadline or as TfL calls it transitional arrangements are set at different dates depending on when you applied for your private hire licence, if you have previously submitted your evidence for the English Language requirement and if that evidence was accepted by TfL or not.  Here is a SERU assessment dates chart you can use to figure out when you must complete your SERU assessment by. 

If you haven’t submitted your evidence for English Language Requirement or if you have and TfL has not accepted it, then the SERU assessment forms part of the evidence for the English Language requirement by TfL.  You may also need to do a Speaking & Listening test to fulfil all parts of the TfL English Language Requirement.

TfL will invite you for the SERU assessment, this can be any time before the SERU transitional arrangement date that effects your Private Hire licence.

The TfL SERU assessment is taken at a TfL driver assessment centre, you will be given the details of their test centre after they have invited you and you have accepted a time for your SERU assessment.

Here is the address for the 2 TfL driver assessment centres.

1. TfL assessment centre at Pier Walk, 14 Pier Walk, London, SE10 0ES
2. TfL assessment centre Ashfield House (West Kensington), 7 Beaumont Avenue, London, W14 9UY

The cost of doing your SERU assessment is £36, which you pay TfL.  If you do not pass the first time, you can re-sit the SERU assessment for £16.  If you fail the second time, you will need to restart the full Private Hire Licence application and pay the full fees again. 

The SERU deadline dates will either be:
1. 30 September 2023
2. 20 September 2024

3. 31 March 2025
4. New applicants after 1 April 2023 will always need to complete their SERU assessment before getting licensed.

The SERU assessment transitional arrangement dates set by TfL are different depending on a few factors such as when you applied for your private hire licence, if you submitted your English Language requirement before the previous deadline and if that evidence for English Language requirement was accepted or not by TfL.  Here is a chart with SERU dates to help you figure out when your SERU assessment deadline is.

The SERU assessment is 45 minutes and is taken in exam condition.  Keep in mind, that you will get 5-mins before the assessment to watch a presentation and try out a couple of tester questions, so in total you will be in the exam room for 50 minutes.

The SERU assessment is made up of 36 questions, which are a mixture of multiple-choice questions and complete the sentence by adding the missing word questions.  In the multiple-choice questions you will find 2 types, simple multiple choice questions and short passage multiple choice questions.

Short passage multiple choice questions involve reading a small passage of information and then choosing an answer which you think best answers the question.

TfL publications mention the SERU assessment is made up of more than 36 knowledge check questions.  Which could mean they will either add more than the current 36 in the future.

60% is the pass mark for the SERU assessment.

The SERU assessment is based on the TfL Private Hire Vehicle Driver’s Handbook, all the information you need is there but to get a real feel of the SERU assessment you can take our online SERU assessment course and SERU mock test, which has the same amount of questions and time-limit as the actual SERU assessment.

Yes, just like the current Topographical Skills assessment the SERU assessment is computer based, so you will need to know how to use a computer and mouse.

The SERU assessment is made up of the following types of questions:

1. Simple multiple-choice questions – You will get a question with 3 possible answers, you may need to choose 1 or more correct answer.
2. Complete the sentence by adding the missing word questions – You will get a sentence with missing words and below that a list of 6 words, you must fill in the missing words with one of the words from the list. Any unused words need to be put in the square as instructed.
3. Short passage multiple-choice questions – You will be given a paragraph to read along with 3 statements relating to the paragraph, you must choose the correct statement.

If you need to cancel or change your SERU assessment test date, then you must contact TfL via email at TPHDriverassessments@tfl.gov.uk or call them on 0343 222 4444.

If you suffer from Dyslexia, you can ask TfL to make reasonable adjustments for you to complete your SERU assessment.

Make sure you contact TfL via email at TPHDriverassessments@tfl.gov.uk or call them on 0343 222 4444.

If you fail your SERU assessment twice, TfL initially stated that they would take licensing action, which means you either get your PHV driver’s Licence revoked if you were already a PHV driver or you do not get your PHV driver’s licence if you’re a new applicant.

However, since January 2024, TfL announced they will pause taking action for a trial period.  They did not say how long this trial period will be, but this does mean that existing drivers will not get their PHV driver’s licence revoked if they fail the SERU assessment.  For new applicants, it means they will be able to re-apply and try the SERU assessment again, which means the cost of re-applying is incured by the applicant.