On this page
In short
- Driving between clients in your own car is the big one: tax on the gap between what the agency pays and HMRC's approved rate (55p a mile from 6 April 2026, 45p for earlier years).
- Add the uniform flat rate (£125 a year for domiciliary care workers and healthcare assistants, £60 for most other roles) for washing your uniform and any registration fees you paid.
- Agency work counts for travel between clients, not the trip from home to each placement. Most of our 3,070 support worker clients are agency or bank staff.
- Average refund £2,972.
Want the figures for your claim? See our support worker tax rebate and care worker tax rebate pages, or check what you are owed in 60 seconds.
Mileage between visits
The first leg from home and the last leg home are usually commuting. Every visit in between is work travel. Agencies typically pay 20p to 30p a mile; the gap to the approved rate is claimable relief.
Uniform and phone
Wash your own tunic: £125 flat rate for domiciliary care workers and healthcare assistants, £60 otherwise. Gloves and aprons are PPE, which is not claimable: your employer should provide them. Work calls: only the extra charges you pay, not line rental, the handset or calls inside your bundle.
DBS and training
DBS checks are not on HMRC's approved list, so they cannot be claimed as a professional fee. Registration with a professional body on HMRC's list is. Training costs count only where the training is itself part of your duties, which is rare.
Worked example
Sam, 5,200 miles a year, paid 20p. Gap 25p, £1,300 relief, £260 tax back a year. Plus £25 uniform at the £125 rate. Over 4 years £1,140, £627 to Sam after our fee.
How to claim
HMRC expects a record of your work journeys; rotas and client lists help us rebuild one. Support worker page has the full list and a calculator. How it works.
Questions
I work for two agencies.
All of it counts. Linking HMRC shows every employer.
I do not keep a log.
HMRC expects a journey record. We rebuild one from your rotas and visit records, and it must match journeys you made. Start a log from today.
This guide is general information, not advice about your circumstances. Figures use HMRC rates for the 2026 to 2027 tax year. We are a paid tax agent and not HMRC.
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