Hi Brydo
That is correct its not “mandatory” to change but they changed mine when I became disabled and the license was changed from “all cars” to “automatics only”. Not sure on this bit I think if you change address you have to change to plastic too but like I said, not sure on that.
It peeved me off a little bit because my old paper license was valid from a date in the 70’s and up unto October 2021 but now have to renew every 10 years (thankfully only once because of age) with a tiny photo that’s hard to distinguish who the photo belongs to and I had to pay for it and they like to talk about not discrimination against disabled folk.
At least next year when my license expires I don’t have to pay for it now but that’s not because I’m disabled, its because that’s the way it is for everyone.