Mileage rates and advisory fuel rates

Two HMRC rates govern mileage payments. The approved mileage allowance payment (AMAP) is what an employer can pay, tax-free, to an employee using their own car or van for business: 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles in the tax year and 25p for every mile after that in 2026/27. The headline rate had been 45p since 2011, so this is the first rise in fifteen years. Because the rate tapers, a driver covering 15,000 business miles a year averages the old 45p; below that mileage the new rate is a real increase, above it the gain fades. Motorcycles are paid at 24p a mile and bicycles at 20p.

The advisory fuel rates (AFR) apply to company cars: the pence per mile an employer can reimburse for business travel, or an employee can repay for private travel, without a benefit-in-kind charge. HMRC resets them every quarter from recent pump prices and typical consumption. From 1 September 2026 the diesel rates are 15p a mile up to 1,600cc, 16p from 1,601cc to 2,000cc and 22p above 2,000cc; petrol is 14p up to 1,400cc, 17p from 1,401cc to 2,000cc and 27p above 2,000cc; LPG is 11p, 13p and 20p across the same three bands.

Electric company cars have their own advisory electric rate, and since 1 September 2025 it has been split in two: 7p a mile for home charging and 15p a mile for public charging in the current quarter. The split matters more than the numbers, because it lets an employer reimburse a driver who has no home charger at a rate that reflects what public charging actually costs.

THRIVE keeps every AFR quarter on file in the AFR archive, re-verifies the current rates against GOV.UK each week, and publishes them through a free API. The mileage rates page carries a calculator for the tapered AMAP rate at any annual mileage.