Earnings & profitability
What the platforms pay, what it costs you, and what is left.
Guides
Riding for Deliveroo: the full guide
How Deliveroo works for a rider: what you need to join, how each fee is worked out, the pay floor agreed with the GMB union, when the money arrives, the insurance Deliveroo gives you for free, and the parts that are left to you.
Getting startedUpdated 29/09/2026
Delivering for Uber Eats: the full guide
How Uber Eats works for a courier: signing up, how each delivery is paid, Quests and batched orders, the weekly pay cycle and the two ways to cash out early, the free Allianz cover, Uber Eats Pro, and the tax side.
Getting startedUpdated 29/09/2026
Delivering for Just Eat: the full guide
Just Eat works differently from the other food apps. You set your availability each week and are scheduled into delivery runs, each order pays Transit Pay, and your acceptance rate decides how quickly offers reach you. Here is how all of it fits together.
Getting startedUpdated 29/09/2026
Delivering for Evri: the full guide
Evri couriers are self-employed and paid per parcel, once a month. You choose between Evri Flex and Evri Plus, which trades a five-day commitment for holiday pay, a pension and guaranteed earnings. Here is how it works and what it means for your tax.
Getting startedUpdated 29/09/2026
Driving for DPD: owner driver, employed or Connect
There are three ways to deliver for DPD, and they are three different jobs for tax. An owner driver runs a route as a business, an employed driver is on PAYE, and a DPD Connect courier uses their own car on a local round. Here is how to tell which suits you.
Getting startedUpdated 29/09/2026
Delivering for Stuart: the full guide
Stuart pays a base fee per delivery set by distance and vehicle, multiplies it at busy times, pays for long waits at pick-up, and pays weekly. It also has a written substitution policy and regular face checks. Here is how each part works.
Getting startedUpdated 29/09/2026
Driving for Bolt: the full guide
What it takes to drive for Bolt in the UK, how the weekly payout is worked out, what the 2024 tribunal ruling on worker status means, why the 2026 VAT change is Bolt's problem rather than yours, and how to report the income correctly.
Getting startedUpdated 29/09/2026
Driving with Freenow: black cab and private hire
Freenow, now owned by Lyft, sends jobs to London black cabs and to private hire drivers. It charges commission only on completed jobs, rewards drivers who carry its advertising, and will pay for private hire drivers to do the Knowledge. Here is how each of those lands on your tax return.
Getting startedUpdated 29/09/2026
Uber driver benefits: holiday pay, pension, cover and Uber Pro
Since 2021 Uber drivers in the UK are workers, which brings a minimum earnings guarantee, 12.07% holiday pay and a pension. On top sit free Allianz insurance, the Uber Pro rewards tiers and early cash out. Here is what each one pays and how it is taxed.
Employment rights & legalUpdated 29/09/2026
When each app pays you, and why the date matters for tax
Most apps pay weekly, on different days, with a fee to get it sooner. Evri pays monthly. The pay date decides how much cash you need in reserve and, at the start and end of the year, which tax year the money falls in.
Earnings & profitabilityUpdated 29/09/2026
Budgeting for a tax bill you have not had yet
Set aside a percentage of every payment as it arrives, into an account you do not spend from. For most full-time drivers claiming mileage, somewhere between 20% and 30% of what the platforms pay is enough, and the first year needs more because of payments on account.
HMRC & taxUpdated 27/08/2026
Tax when you have a PAYE job as well
You get one personal allowance across all your income, and your job has usually used it. That means delivery profit is often taxed from the first pound, at whatever band your total income reaches. You file one return covering both, and you do not pay twice.
HMRC & taxUpdated 27/08/2026
What it really costs you per mile
Your cost per mile is fuel plus tyres, servicing, insurance, repairs and the value the car loses, divided by the miles you drive. Fuel is usually less than half of it, which is why a driver who only counts fuel thinks the work pays better than it does.
Vehicles & equipmentUpdated 27/08/2026
Fuel against electric for gig driving
On home charging an electric car is dramatically cheaper per mile than petrol, often by a factor of four or five. On public rapid charging the gap narrows to very little. Whether it works for you is mostly a question of where you charge, not of what you drive.
Vehicles & equipmentUpdated 27/08/2026
How Amazon Flex pay works
Amazon Flex pays a fixed price for a block of time, quoted before you accept it. The figure is gross, it says nothing about the miles the route will run, and everything after that, fuel, insurance, wear and tax, comes out of it.
Earnings & profitabilityUpdated 27/08/2026
How Uber driver pay works
Uber quotes a fare to the rider, takes a service fee, and pays you the balance. Your turnover for tax is the figure before the service fee, and the fee itself is a business expense. Reporting only what landed in your account is the most common error on a driver's return.
Earnings & profitabilityUpdated 27/08/2026
Your real hourly rate, and how to work it out
Your real hourly rate is what the platforms paid you, minus what the vehicle cost you, minus the tax on the profit, divided by every hour you were working. It is commonly a quarter below the headline figure, and it is the only number worth comparing between platforms.
Earnings & profitabilityUpdated 27/08/2026
Universal Credit when you drive
Universal Credit for a self-employed driver works on monthly reported earnings, not on the tax year, and once your start-up period ends a minimum income floor can be applied. That combination makes an award unpredictable when earnings swing week to week.
Earnings & profitabilityUpdated 27/08/2026
How to become a delivery driver in the UK
What you need before your first shift: the right licence and insurance, which platform to start with, what it costs to set up, and how to tell HMRC.
Getting startedUpdated 19/08/2026
Multi-apping: driving for more than one platform
Running two or three delivery apps at once - whether it is allowed, whether it pays, and how to keep records that still make sense at tax time.
Multi-app drivingUpdated 19/08/2026
Articles
Deliveroo, Uber Eats, Just Eat and Stuart: how they really differ
The four food apps pay per order, but they differ on almost everything else: whether you can log on when you like, whether waiting is paid, what declining costs you, when the money arrives and what they insure. Here is the comparison on the things that change your week.
Earnings & profitabilityUpdated 29/09/2026
Amazon Flex, Evri, DPD and Yodel: parcel work compared
Parcel work suits drivers who want daytime hours and a predictable load. The four big options differ on the vehicle they need, how you are paid, how often, and how much of the week they expect. Here they are side by side.
Earnings & profitabilityUpdated 29/09/2026
Uber, Bolt, Freenow and Addison Lee: private hire compared
All four need the same licence, car and insurance. They differ on status, benefits, how you are paid and whether you rent the car from them. Here is how they compare on the things that change what you keep.
Earnings & profitabilityUpdated 29/09/2026
The 2026 VAT change on private hire, and what it means for drivers
From 2 January 2026 private hire operators can no longer use the Tour Operators' Margin Scheme, so operators that contract as principal pay VAT on the whole fare. It is a tax on the operator, not on you, but it changes fares and what drivers are offered.
HMRC & taxUpdated 29/09/2026
Who owns the delivery apps now, and what changed for drivers
In 2025 most of the big names changed hands: DoorDash bought Deliveroo, Prosus bought Just Eat, Lyft bought Freenow, InPost bought Yodel and Evri merged with DHL eCommerce UK. For drivers and riders, very little changed on day one. Here is what to watch.
Earnings & profitabilityUpdated 29/09/2026
Amazon Flex or an Amazon delivery partner job?
There are two ways to deliver Amazon parcels. Flex is self-employed, in your own car, a block at a time. A Delivery Service Partner job is with a separate company that provides the van and usually sets a full day. They are different jobs with different tax.
Getting startedUpdated 29/09/2026
The minimum income floor
The minimum income floor is an assumed level of earnings Universal Credit applies to self-employed claimants after a start-up period. Earn less than it and your award is calculated as though you had earned it, which removes the top-up in exactly the months you need it.
Earnings & profitabilityUpdated 27/08/2026
Surge, boost and peak pay, honestly
Surge is a temporary uplift applied where demand outstrips the drivers available. It is a supply tool, not a bonus, and it disappears the moment enough drivers arrive. Driving across a city to reach it costs miles nobody pays for, and that usually eats the uplift.
Earnings & profitabilityUpdated 27/08/2026
Best and worst hours to work
Food delivery concentrates into two narrow windows a day, lunchtime and evening, with the evening far stronger and weekends stronger still. Parcel work is the opposite, front-loaded into the morning. The worst hours are the ones between, where you are available and unpaid.
Earnings & profitabilityUpdated 27/08/2026
Comparing platforms on real net hourly
No platform pays a fixed rate, so the honest answer is that it depends on your area, your car and your hours. What can be compared is the shape: private hire has the highest gross and the highest costs, food delivery the lowest of both, and parcel work sits between them.
Earnings & profitabilityUpdated 27/08/2026
The year in delivery work
Demand runs on a predictable annual cycle: a peak from late November through Christmas, a sharp fall in January, a slow spring and a quiet summer. The tax bill lands in the worst month of the year, which is the part worth planning around.
Earnings & profitabilityUpdated 27/08/2026
Car, moped or bike: which is best for delivery work?
A bike wins in a dense city centre, a moped wins in most towns, and a car wins on parcel work and bad weather. The tax relief follows the same order in reverse.
Vehicles & equipmentUpdated 20/08/2026
How much tax does a full-time delivery driver actually pay?
Far less than the headline turnover suggests. Mileage relief usually removes a third or more before income tax and National Insurance are worked out at all.
HMRC & taxUpdated 20/08/2026
Private hire or food delivery: which is worth doing?
Private hire pays more per hour and costs far more to get into. Food delivery you can start this week with the car you already own.
Earnings & profitabilityUpdated 20/08/2026
Is Amazon Flex worth it?
Blocks look well paid until you subtract fuel, wear and tax. Here is how to work out what a Flex block is actually worth to you.
Earnings & profitabilityUpdated 19/08/2026
How much can you earn with Uber Eats?
Why there is no honest national average, what actually drives the number, and how to work out your own rate after costs.
Earnings & profitabilityUpdated 19/08/2026
What makes a good delivery car?
Running cost per mile matters more than the sticker price. How to compare vehicles for delivery work, and where electric does and does not pay.
Vehicles & equipmentUpdated 19/08/2026
Food delivery or parcel delivery: which is better?
Two quite different jobs that get lumped together. How the pay, hours, mileage, costs and risk compare.
Earnings & profitabilityUpdated 19/08/2026
Questions
JoltMile Help
How JoltMile calculates your true hourly rate
The difference between gross, business and true £/hr, and exactly what each one subtracts.
Earnings & profitabilityUpdated 29/09/2026
Take-home pay, and how it differs from current balance
One figure counts every cost you had. The other counts only the cost of the driving. Both are true, and they answer different questions.
Earnings & profitabilityUpdated 29/09/2026
Reading the Earnings summary
Your tax year month by month and week by week, and why a rate for a period is never an average of rates.
Earnings & profitabilityUpdated 29/09/2026
Reading your Earnings tab
What the big number is, what the two rings mean, and how This month and This week differ from your year to date.
Earnings & profitabilityUpdated 29/09/2026
The shift log and its columns
Finding a shift, what each figure against it means, and editing or deleting one.
Earnings & profitabilityUpdated 29/09/2026
News
Freenow raises London black cab commission to 20% from 14 September
Freenow by Lyft now charges London black cab drivers 20% commission including VAT, except drivers carrying its on-cab advertising or signing up for it before the end of 2026.
Earnings & profitabilityUpdated 29/09/2026
A job or other income now counts in your tax estimate
Add a job, rent or another trade, with the tax already taken off your payslips, and the estimate covers your whole year rather than the driving alone.
HMRC & taxUpdated 12/09/2026