Locum pharmacist mileage: the 55p rate and when you can claim

For many locums, mileage is the biggest expense on the tax return. From 6 April 2026 HMRC's rate is 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles in a tax year, and 25p a mile after that. It was 45p for years; 2026 brought the first rise since 2011.

When journeys to a pharmacy count as business travel

Ordinary commuting is never allowable. For the self-employed, travel from home to where you work is allowable only when home is the base of the business and the places you work are temporary. HMRC's guidance draws on a case about a bricklayer who worked on one site after another (Horton v Young): his trade was itinerant, so the travel was business travel.

A locum who runs their business from home and works at different pharmacies as bookings come in is often in a similar position. The key test in HMRC's guidance is predictability: where the places of work vary and cannot be predicted, home can be the base. But if you work at the same pharmacy regularly, on a pattern, HMRC may treat it as your normal place of work, and the journey there as commuting.

Two ways to claim

The flat rate (simplified expenses). Claim 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles and 25p after that. It covers fuel, insurance, servicing, repairs and wear, so you cannot claim those separately. Parking and tolls on the journey can still be claimed. Once you use the flat rate for a vehicle, you must keep using it for as long as you use that vehicle for the business.

Actual costs. Add up the running costs of the car for the year and claim the business share, with capital allowances for the car itself. It takes more record keeping and suits fewer locums.

What to record for each journey

• the date;
• where from and where to;
• the reason (the pharmacy and the shift);
• the business miles.

Motorcycles are 24p a mile and bicycles 20p. The 10,000-mile threshold resets every 6 April.