Delivery driver pay in the UK

Employed, worker or self-employed?

Employed and agency drivers get the minimum wage, holiday pay and rest breaks. Genuinely self-employed couriers don't, but they can deduct business costs. The label in your contract isn't the final word. If the company controls your hours, routes and how you work, and you can't send someone else in your place, you may legally be a worker.

In 2021, the Supreme Court decided in Uber v Aslam that Uber drivers were workers, not self-employed, which entitled them to the minimum wage and holiday pay.

A worked example: per-drop pay

A self-employed multi-drop courier is paid £1.10 a drop and does 120 drops: £132.00 for the day. The day took 11 hours including loading, and fuel and van costs were £38.00. That leaves £94.00, or £8.55 an hour, which is less than the £12.71 that an employed driver would have to be paid.

Mileage

If you use your own vehicle for an employer, HMRC's approved rates are 45p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles in a tax year and 25p after that for cars and vans, 24p for motorbikes and 20p for bicycles. If your employer pays less, you can claim tax relief on the difference. Self-employed drivers can use the same rates instead of working out actual vehicle costs.

Drivers' hours

Vans up to 3.5 tonnes used for deliveries usually fall under the GB domestic drivers' hours rules: no more than 10 hours driving and 11 hours on duty in a day. Heavier vehicles fall under different rules with tachographs. Check GOV.UK for which rules apply to your vehicle.

Waiting and loading time

For employed and agency drivers, time spent waiting at the depot for your load, loading the van and doing vehicle checks is working time if you're required to do it.

Track it shift by shift

Log each shift as you finish it in Shiftaan and you'll always know which ones are still unpaid. Start free, no card needed.

Common questions