Volunteer driver mileage rates 2026/27: the new 55p HMRC rate

Volunteer driver mileage rates are the pence-per-mile amounts a charity or community transport scheme pays drivers who use their own car. HMRC sets approved rates that can be paid without creating a tax charge. From 6 April 2026, the car and van rate rose from 45p to 55p for the first 10,000 miles.

If you coordinate a community car scheme, look after the accounts, or sit on a trustee board, this is the first change to the headline rate since 2011. It is good news for drivers, and it raises practical questions about what to pay and what records to keep.

This guide covers the new rates, what your scheme can pay tax-free, how to keep trip logs that stand up, and how to repay drivers without creating a tax headache for them or for you.

What are the HMRC mileage rates for volunteers in 2026/27?

HMRC publishes approved mileage allowance payment rates, often shortened to AMAP. They were written for employees, but HMRC applies the same figures to volunteer drivers. For the tax year 2026 to 2027, the GOV.UK travel, mileage and fuel rates page (updated 21 May 2026) lists:

Vehicle	First 10,000 business miles	Each mile over 10,000
Cars and vans	55p	25p
Motor cycles	24p	24p
Bicycles	20p	20p

For comparison, from 2011 to 2026 the car and van rate was 45p for the first 10,000 miles and 25p after that. So the change is a 10p rise on the higher rate only. The 25p rate for miles over 10,000 is unchanged, as are the motor cycle and bicycle rates.

The new rate applies from 6 April 2026, the start of the 2026/27 tax year.

What rate can we pay volunteer drivers tax-free?

HMRC's volunteer drivers' guidance in the Employment Income Manual, EIM71155, explains the principle simply. Your organisation can pay mileage at up to the published tax-free rates without giving rise to a tax charge, as long as the limits are not exceeded.

HMRC's own example: a volunteer who drives 5,000 miles and receives 55p a mile or less has no tax to pay. If they receive more than 55p a mile, they may have tax to pay on the difference.

A few points that are worth spelling out for trustees and treasurers:

• You don't have to pay 55p. The approved rate is a ceiling for tax-free payments, not a requirement. Many schemes pay less for budget reasons, and that is fine from a tax point of view.
• Paying more than 55p isn't banned, but anything above the approved amount may count as profit for the driver. The driver, not your organisation, would then need to work out whether they owe tax on it.
• It is about the driver's position, not yours. Volunteer mileage payments are not usually income for the driver because they simply repay costs. Tax only comes in if the payments add up to more than the approved amount.
• There is no National Insurance on profits made from volunteer driving, according to HMRC's guidance to check if you need to pay tax on mileage payments as a volunteer driver.

What about drivers who volunteer for more than one organisation?

This is the bit that catches people out. The 10,000-mile threshold is per driver, per tax year, across all the organisations they drive for.

EIM71155 says that if a volunteer drives for two or more organisations in the year, the 55p rate applies to the first 10,000 miles driven for all of them added together. After that, the 25p rate applies.

In practice, most volunteer drivers never get near 10,000 volunteer miles. But your busiest drivers might, especially if they also help a hospital transport service, a church, or a neighbouring scheme. Your organisation can't see their other mileage, so it is worth:

• reminding high-mileage drivers that the threshold covers all their volunteering
• giving each driver a clear yearly total of miles and payments from your scheme
• pointing them to the GOV.UK guidance if they are close to, or over, 10,000 miles

You are not expected to police their tax affairs, just to give accurate figures.

Should we move to 55p straight away?

That is a decision for your trustees, and it depends on your budget, your funders and how you charge passengers. Some things to weigh up:

• Driver retention. Volunteers have been absorbing rising costs for years. Moving towards 55p is a clear signal that you value their time and their cars.
• Cost to the scheme. A 10p rise is a 22% increase on mileage costs. If you recover costs from passengers, you may need to review your fares or suggested donations.
• Funding agreements. Some grants and contracts name a specific mileage rate. Check before you change anything.
• Back-dating. The new rate applies from 6 April 2026, but there is no rule that says you have to back-date your payments. If you decide to, keep a note of the trustee decision and the dates covered.

If you still pay 45p, nothing has gone wrong. Whatever you decide, write the rate and the effective date into your volunteer expenses policy so everyone, from coordinators to drivers, works from the same figure.

Recording volunteer mileage: what trip logs do you need?

Good records make the rest easy. HMRC's guidance says that if a driver only claims payments within the approved mileage allowance, they just need a record of the number of miles driven while volunteering for that year, along with the amount of mileage or other allowances they received. Receipts and records should be kept for at least two years.

If a driver chooses to work out their position using actual motoring costs instead, they need much fuller records, including all their motoring expenses and both private and volunteer mileage. EIM71155 confirms drivers can do this if they prefer, but for most people the mileage-rate route is far simpler.

For the scheme, a good trip log should show:

• date of the journey
• driver
• passenger or booking reference
• start and end points
• miles driven (and how they were measured: odometer readings or a route estimate)
• rate paid and amount paid
• who approved the claim

Avoid logs that only record a monthly total. A trip-by-trip record is much easier to defend if a driver or your auditor ever asks how a payment was worked out.

If you want mileage captured on each booking rather than in a separate spreadsheet, volunteer driver software keeps the trip, driver and miles together.

Watch out for claims that straddle April

If you back-date to 6 April, a claim covering late March and April 2026 mixes old and new rates. Pay each trip at the rate in force on the date it happened.

How to repay drivers without a tax headache

The aim is simple: pay drivers fairly, stay within the approved rates, and give everyone clear figures. A straightforward process might look like this:

1. Set the rate in writing. Agree your pence-per-mile figure at trustee level and record the effective date.
2. Record mileage on each trip. Capture miles at the end of each journey, not from memory at month end.
3. Keep passenger payments separate. HMRC's guidance says passenger payments are separate to mileage allowance and should not be included when working out whether a driver has made a profit. Keep them on a different line.
4. Pay regularly. Monthly or fortnightly payments are easier to reconcile than occasional lump sums.
5. Give drivers a yearly summary. After 5 April, send each driver their total volunteer miles and total payments from your scheme for the tax year. This is the figure they need if they ever have to check their position.
6. Flag high mileage early. If a driver is heading towards 10,000 miles with you alone, let them know before the year end.

If a driver does receive more than the approved amount across all their volunteering, HMRC's guidance explains how they can work out the profit and, where needed, report it through Self Assessment. Your clear records make that much easier.

Where software can help

Paper forms and shared spreadsheets can work, but errors creep in as you add drivers. We covered the trade-offs in spreadsheets vs community transport software.

In OpenCommute's volunteer driver software, the mileage sits with the trip itself. Coordinators assign a driver to a booking, the driver accepts or declines from an email link, and the reply is stored on the activity log. Once the journey is complete, you record the end mileage on the booking and create the invoice from it. That means the trip, the driver and the miles are all in one record when your treasurer needs them.

Weekly hours help too. Once a driver's availability is saved, a trip outside those hours can't be assigned to them, which keeps your busiest volunteers from being overloaded.

If you also run a minibus or shared routes, the same calendar handles dial-a-ride software workflows alongside volunteer car trips. You can see the full list of features, check pricing, or sign up to try it with your own bookings.

Frequently asked questions

Do volunteer drivers pay tax on mileage expenses?

Not usually. HMRC says volunteer driver expenses are not generally liable for Income Tax because they only repay what the driver has spent. Tax only applies if payments add up to more than the approved mileage allowance, and there is no National Insurance on any profit.

What is the 2026/27 volunteer driver mileage rate for cars?

The approved rate is 55p a mile for the first 10,000 miles and 25p a mile after that, from 6 April 2026. See the GOV.UK rates page.

Can we pay less than 55p?

Yes. The approved rate is the most you can pay without creating a possible tax charge for the driver. Paying less is a budget decision for your scheme.

Does the 10,000-mile limit apply per organisation?

No. According to EIM71155, the 55p rate applies to the first 10,000 miles driven for all of a volunteer's organisations added together.

How long should mileage records be kept?

HMRC's volunteer driver guidance says receipts and records should be kept for at least two years. Your own charity record-keeping policy may ask for longer.

Keeping the basics in order

Mileage is one part of running a safe, well-organised scheme. Vehicle checks are another. If your drivers or your fleet need a better system for test dates, read our guide to community transport MOT tracking.

The rise to 55p is a welcome change for volunteer drivers. With a clear rate, good trip logs and a yearly summary for each driver, it doesn't need to create extra work for your coordinators or your treasurer.

This article is general guidance based on HMRC information published on GOV.UK. It is not tax advice. For individual circumstances, drivers should check the GOV.UK guidance or contact HMRC.