diff --git a/app/notifications/notifications_letter_callback.py b/app/notifications/notifications_letter_callback.py
index 3b4a0fbb3..c7bc80d9e 100644
--- a/app/notifications/notifications_letter_callback.py
+++ b/app/notifications/notifications_letter_callback.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 from datetime import datetime
+from functools import wraps
 
 from flask import (
     Blueprint,
@@ -11,37 +12,52 @@ from flask import (
 from app import statsd_client
 from app.celery.tasks import update_letter_notifications_statuses
 from app.clients.email.aws_ses import get_aws_responses
-from app.dao import (
-    notifications_dao
-)
-
+from app.dao import notifications_dao
+from app.v2.errors import register_errors
 from app.notifications.process_client_response import validate_callback_data
+from app.notifications.utils import autoconfirm_subscription
+from app.schema_validation import validate
+
 
 letter_callback_blueprint = Blueprint('notifications_letter_callback', __name__)
-
-from app.errors import (
-    register_errors,
-    InvalidRequest
-)
-
 register_errors(letter_callback_blueprint)
 
 
+dvla_sns_callback_schema = {
+    "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema#",
+    "description": "sns callback received on s3 update",
+    "type": "object",
+    "title": "dvla internal sns callback",
+    "properties": {
+        "Type": {"enum": ["Notification", "SubscriptionConfirmation"]},
+        "MessageId": {"type": "string"},
+        "Message": {"type": ["string", "object"]}
+    },
+    "required": ["Type", "MessageId", "Message"]
+}
+
+
+def validate_schema(schema):
+    def decorator(f):
+        @wraps(f)
+        def wrapper(*args, **kw):
+            validate(request.json, schema)
+            return f(*args, **kw)
+        return wrapper
+    return decorator
+
+
 @letter_callback_blueprint.route('/notifications/letter/dvla', methods=['POST'])
+@validate_schema(dvla_sns_callback_schema)
 def process_letter_response():
-    try:
-        req_json = json.loads(request.data)
+    req_json = request.json
+    if not autoconfirm_subscription(req_json):
         # The callback should have one record for an S3 Put Event.
         filename = req_json['Message']['Records'][0]['s3']['object']['key']
-
-    except (ValueError, KeyError):
-        error = "DVLA callback failed: Invalid JSON"
-        raise InvalidRequest(error, status_code=400)
-
-    else:
+        current_app.logger.info('Received file from DVLA: {}'.format(filename))
         current_app.logger.info('DVLA callback: Calling task to update letter notifications')
         update_letter_notifications_statuses.apply_async([filename], queue='notify')
 
-        return jsonify(
-            result="success", message="DVLA callback succeeded"
-        ), 200
+    return jsonify(
+        result="success", message="DVLA callback succeeded"
+    ), 200
diff --git a/app/notifications/utils.py b/app/notifications/utils.py
index 80346c475..5f1443f09 100644
--- a/app/notifications/utils.py
+++ b/app/notifications/utils.py
@@ -16,3 +16,10 @@ def confirm_subscription(confirmation_request):
         raise e
 
     return confirmation_request['TopicArn']
+
+
+def autoconfirm_subscription(req_json):
+    if req_json.get('Type') == 'SubscriptionConfirmation':
+        current_app.logger.info("SNS subscription confirmation url: {}".format(req_json['SubscribeURL']))
+        subscribed_topic = confirm_subscription(req_json)
+        return subscribed_topic
diff --git a/tests/app/notifications/rest/test_callbacks.py b/tests/app/notifications/rest/test_callbacks.py
index 095384836..242f18a46 100644
--- a/tests/app/notifications/rest/test_callbacks.py
+++ b/tests/app/notifications/rest/test_callbacks.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ from app.dao.notifications_dao import (
     get_notification_by_id
 )
 from app.models import NotificationStatistics
+from tests.app.notifications.test_notifications_ses_callback import ses_confirmation_callback
 from tests.app.conftest import sample_notification as create_sample_notification
 
 
@@ -22,24 +23,41 @@ def test_dvla_callback_returns_400_with_invalid_request(client):
         data=data,
         headers=[('Content-Type', 'application/json')]
     )
+
     json_resp = json.loads(response.get_data(as_text=True))
 
     assert response.status_code == 400
-    assert json_resp['result'] == 'error'
-    assert json_resp['message'] == 'DVLA callback failed: Invalid JSON'
 
 
-def test_dvla_callback_returns_200_with_valid_request(client, mocker):
-    data = _sample_sns_s3_callback()
-    mocker.patch('app.notifications.notifications_letter_callback.update_letter_notifications_statuses.apply_async')
+def test_dvla_callback_autoconfirms_subscription(client, mocker):
+    autoconfirm_mock = mocker.patch('app.notifications.notifications_letter_callback.autoconfirm_subscription')
+
+    data = ses_confirmation_callback()
     response = client.post(
         path='/notifications/letter/dvla',
         data=data,
         headers=[('Content-Type', 'application/json')]
     )
-    json_resp = json.loads(response.get_data(as_text=True))
 
     assert response.status_code == 200
+    assert autoconfirm_mock.called
+
+
+def test_dvla_callback_autoconfirm_does_not_call_update_letter_notifications_task(client, mocker):
+    autoconfirm_mock = mocker.patch('app.notifications.notifications_letter_callback.autoconfirm_subscription')
+    update_task = \
+        mocker.patch('app.notifications.notifications_letter_callback.update_letter_notifications_statuses.apply_async')
+
+    data = ses_confirmation_callback()
+    response = client.post(
+        path='/notifications/letter/dvla',
+        data=data,
+        headers=[('Content-Type', 'application/json')]
+    )
+
+    assert response.status_code == 200
+    assert autoconfirm_mock.called
+    assert not update_task.called
 
 
 def test_dvla_callback_calls_update_letter_notifications_task(client, mocker):
@@ -54,7 +72,7 @@ def test_dvla_callback_calls_update_letter_notifications_task(client, mocker):
     json_resp = json.loads(response.get_data(as_text=True))
 
     assert response.status_code == 200
-    assert update_task.called is True
+    assert update_task.called
     update_task.assert_called_with(['bar.txt'], queue='notify')