Keepwright
UK Business Mileage & HMRC Mileage-Rate Statistics (2026)
A current, cited reference on UK business mileage — the HMRC rates, who claims, how far Britain drives, and what's changing with Making Tax Digital. We keep it honest: every figure links to its source, and where there's no reliable number we say so rather than invent one.
Short answer: the HMRC mileage rate (AMAP) for cars and vans is 55p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles and 25p after — raised from 45p on 6 April 2026, the first increase since 2011. Motorcycles are 24p, bicycles 20p.
The headline: the rate rose from 45p to 55p in 2026
For the first time since 2011, HMRC has increased the Approved Mileage Allowance Payment (AMAP) rate. The first-10,000-mile car and van rate rose from 45p to 55p per mile, effective 6 April 2026 (applied retrospectively) — confirmed on the GOV.UK rates page (updated 21 May 2026) and a GOV.UK policy paper (17 June 2026).
Why it matters: if you're claiming for 2026/27, the correct rate is 55p — a 5,000-mile-a-year driver is entitled to £500 more than under the old 45p rate, which applied from 2011 to 2026.
The HMRC AMAP rates (2026/27)
- Car / van — first 10,000 business miles: 55p per mile (was 45p)
- Car / van — over 10,000 miles: 25p per mile (unchanged)
- Motorcycle: 24p per mile · Bicycle: 20p per mile (both unchanged)
- Passenger rate: 5p per mile, per fellow-employee passenger on the same business trip
Source: GOV.UK — Travel: mileage and fuel rates and allowances (2026/27). These are the approved tax-free rates; an employer can pay less (you may be able to claim the difference) or more (the excess is taxable).
Who claims business mileage
- ~4.57 million people are self-employed in the UK (ONS Labour Force Survey via Statista, Q1 2026)
- Up to ~14 million "grey fleet" cars — privately owned vehicles used for work — are on UK roads, covering billions of business miles a year (RAC Foundation research, 2022)
We couldn't find a reliably-published figure for the exact number of people who claim mileage each year, or a single "% of drivers who use their own car for work" — so we don't quote one. The 14-million grey-fleet figure is the best available proxy for the scale of the problem.
How far Britain drives (England)
- ~7,100 miles — the average annual car mileage, down from ~9,100 two decades ago
- ~400 miles — the average business mileage per car per year (down ~64% over twenty years)
- ~2,200–2,300 miles — the average commuting mileage per car per year
Source: Department for Transport National Travel Survey (NTS0901), 2024 data (published 27 August 2025). These figures are for England, not the whole UK. Averages hide wide variation — a self-employed tradesperson can easily drive several times the business-mileage average.
The money
- £2,750 — what 5,000 business miles is worth at the new 55p rate (5,000 × 55p). A worked example, not a statistic — your figure depends on your miles.
- Even under the old 45p rate, the RAC Foundation calculated a 5,000-mile driver was ~£900 a year out of pocket against real running costs, and argued the rate should be ~63p (RAC Foundation, July 2023)
- Subscription mileage trackers charge ongoing: Driversnote ~£8/month in the UK (Driversnote, 2026). Over a few years that's more than a pay-once tracker.
Self Assessment & Making Tax Digital
- 11.48 million Self Assessment returns were filed by the 31 January deadline for 2024/25 — 97.25% of them online (GOV.UK, Feb 2026)
- Making Tax Digital for Income Tax arrives in stages by income: £50k from April 2026 · £30k from April 2027 · £20k from April 2028 (GOV.UK)
MTD means more sole traders will need clean, digital records — including their mileage. Keeping a tidy, tax-year-ready log now makes that transition painless.
Keep your own mileage tax-year-ready
Want to work out your own numbers? Try the free UK mileage calculator — it already uses the correct 55p rate. Or read about Mileage Tracker, the pay-once app that keeps an audit-ready log on your phone.
Not tax advice. Rates and figures are provided for convenience and were correct at publication (26 June 2026) — confirm current figures with HMRC or your accountant. Sources are linked throughout.