How to start gig work in the UK (2026 guide)

Summary

Starting gig work in 2025-26 means more than just downloading an app: you need the right licence or ID, insurance, tax registration and a plan to avoid ending up with a nasty bill in your second year.

Uber, Deliveroo, Amazon Flex, Just Eat, Stuart, Gophr and private-hire apps all call you "self-employed", but the law can still treat you as a worker with extra rights while HMRC taxes you as self-employed once your gross gig income goes over £1,000 in a tax year.

The single biggest mistake new gig workers make is spending everything they earn in month one, trusting TikTok and r/deliveroos for tax advice, and then discovering HMRC wants both a tax bill and payments on account the following January.

Key facts (UK 2025-26)

• Tax year is 6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026.
• Gig work here includes: Uber, Uber Eats, Deliveroo, Amazon Flex, Just Eat, Stuart, Gophr, Bolt, Free Now, private-hire minicabs, local courier contracts, all usually treated as self-employment for tax.
• If your total gross gig income in 2025-26 is more than £1,000, you normally must register with HMRC for Self Assessment; this is the trading allowance trap.
• The trading allowance for 2025-26 is £1,000 of trading income (before expenses).
• You must have right to work in the UK before any platform can legally let you earn. This applies to British citizens as well as migrants (they must check).
• Deliveroo in the UK requires: right to work as self-employed, a smartphone, your own bike/scooter/car with safety kit, a UK bank account, being 18+, and no unspent criminal convictions; cars/scooters need food delivery insurance as well as normal motor cover.
• Uber drivers need: a full UK driving licence, to be at least 21 in practice in most cities, a bank account, a private hire driver licence and usually a licensed vehicle with hire-and-reward insurance; sign-up involves right-to-work checks, an enhanced DBS (criminal record) check and local council licensing.
• Your normal private car insurance does not cover carrying passengers or parcels for money; you need hire-and-reward or food delivery cover.

Legislation, case law, regulation

• Employment Rights Act 1996 / Employment Rights Act 2025 update: define employee and worker status and the rights attached (for example holiday pay, protection from unlawful deductions).
• Uber BV v Aslam [2021] UKSC 5: Supreme Court held that Uber drivers were workers (with rights) even though Uber labelled them self-employed; that does not automatically decide Deliveroo or Amazon Flex cases, but it shows the direction of travel.
• Equality Act 2010: applies to gig workers as much as any other worker in terms of discrimination.
• Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 and related rules: require platforms to carry out right-to-work checks before you start.
• Road Traffic Act 1988 and associated regulations: make it an offence to drive for hire or reward using inappropriate insurance.
• Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005: governs how HMRC taxes your gig profits as self-employment.
• Tax-free allowances on property and trading income (HMRC guidance): sets out the £1,000 trading allowance and when you must register for Self Assessment.

How it actually works

1. What counts as gig work?

For this guide, think of gig work as:

• anything where you pick up jobs through an app or platform (Uber, Deliveroo, Just Eat, Amazon Flex, Stuart, Gophr, Bolt, Free Now, local courier platforms);
• you are not on PAYE with payslips;
• the platform treats you as self-employed for tax.

HMRC sees this as trading income, just like any small sole-trader business.

2. What you need before you start

Basics, before you even touch an app:

• Right to work: passport / biometric residence permit / status proof; Deliveroo and Uber both insist on proof you can work self-employed in the UK.
• Driving licence or ID:
  • Uber / private hire / Amazon Flex: full UK driving licence, usually held at least 12 months, and for Uber/private-hire you also need a local private hire driver licence.
  • Deliveroo / Just Eat on bike: photo ID (passport, licence) and age 18+.
• Vehicle or bike:
  • Car or scooter that meets age and door rules for the app;
  • Bike or e-bike in decent condition with brakes, lights, lock.
• Insurance: hire-and-reward or food delivery cover for any motor vehicle used for app work; standard social, domestic and commuting is not enough.
• Phone: Smartphone with iOS or Android meeting app minimum versions (Deliveroo wants at least iOS 13.6 / Android 6 or above, newer specs in some pages).
• Bank account in your name, to receive payouts.

3. Platform sign-up in practice

Summaries for 2025-26 (always check current pages before publishing).

Uber (private hire / UberX)

• Upload: full UK driving licence, right-to-work documents, bank details, profile photo.
• Get: local private hire driver licence (through your council, medical, topographical test, DBS).
• Insurance: hire-and-reward plus sometimes PHV-grade cover.
• Time: from a few weeks to several months depending on council and DBS delays. r/uberdrivers UK threads regularly complain about waits of 6 to 12 weeks.

Deliveroo (bike / scooter / car)

• Requirements: proof of right to work self-employed, smartphone, your own vehicle, UK bank account, age 18+, no unspent convictions.
• Motor vehicles: must have food-delivery insurance + normal vehicle insurance.
• Time: sign-up can be quick (days) but background checks and right-to-work verification sometimes hold riders in "waiting list" status in busy cities (frequently mentioned on r/deliveroos).

Amazon Flex

• Requirements: car or large vehicle, smartphone, right to work, background check.
• Time: some areas have waiting lists; others onboard quickly.

Just Eat, Stuart, Gophr

• Similar pattern: ID, right to work, bank, vehicle, insurance; some use third-party fleets where you drive under another company's licence and insurance.

4. Are you self-employed, a worker, or an employee?

For tax: HMRC almost always treats these app roles as self-employment. You register, keep records, and file a Self Assessment return if gross trading income goes above £1,000.

For rights:

• After Uber BV v Aslam [2021] UKSC 5, Uber drivers were held to be workers for employment law, with rights to minimum wage and holiday pay, despite Uber's "self-employed partner" language.
• Deliveroo has, so far, kept riders out of worker status in UK litigation; unions like IWGB and ADCU are still pushing.
• Amazon Flex, Just Eat, Stuart and Gophr are each in their own grey zone; expect platforms to keep calling you "independent" while their lawyers fight worker cases in the background.

Short version: HMRC taxes you as self-employed, but that does not stop you pursuing worker rights in tribunals. Union-backed cases by IWGB, ADCU, GMB, and firms like Leigh Day, Bates Wells, Farore Law.

5. HMRC registration and the trading allowance trap

You must deal with HMRC even if the app never mentions tax.

• The trading allowance for 2025-26 is £1,000 of gross trading income.
• If your total gig income in 2025-26 is £1,000 or less, you can usually ignore it for tax and do nothing, though there are exceptions.
• If your gross gig income goes over £1,000, you must register for Self Assessment and file a tax return, even if expenses mean your profit is tiny.

This is where many new riders and drivers get burned: r/deliveroos is full of people saying "I only made £150 a week so I thought I didn't need to tell HMRC", but 30 weeks of that is £4,500 gross, four times the trading allowance.

6. Insurance basics, don't let the platform hang you out to dry

Your friendly personal car policy that says "social, domestic & commuting" does not cover Uber, Amazon Flex or Just Eat driving; if you crash on a delivery without the right insurance, your insurer can refuse the claim and cancel your policy.

You need hire-and-reward or food delivery insurance, sometimes arranged via providers like Inshur or Zego, and the platform will ask for proof.

If a platform tells you "just get started and sort insurance later", that is basically the platform pushing the legal risk onto you; in plain English, they are happy for you to be illegal in 2025 so long as they get their cut.

7. Equipment you actually need

For drivers (Uber, Amazon Flex, private hire):

• Legal, insured vehicle.
• Phone mount with safe positioning. You must not hold your phone while driving.
• Power bank or in-car charger. Apps drain batteries fast.
• Basic cleaning kit: wipes, bin bags, hoovering to avoid complaints.

For riders (Deliveroo, Just Eat, Stuart, Gophr):

• Sturdy bike / e-bike / scooter in good working order.
• Insulated delivery bag or box. Platforms often require a proper thermal bag.
• Helmet, hi-vis vest, lights, lock. Safety and security, and in some cases required by the platform or common sense.
• Decent rain gear. Not tax law but reality.
• Phone mount, charger, power bank.

This is money you are putting in upfront. Treat it as business kit and keep receipts so you can claim it as an expense later.

8. What's the single biggest mistake people make in month one?

Two mistakes that go together:

1. Not tracking anything. No mileage log, no list of shifts, no idea what the app is actually paying after fuel or repairs.
2. Spending every payout. By the time HMRC and Student Loans Company catch up (if you have a loan), there is no tax pot, and the January bill demands both last year's tax and the first payments on account for the next year.

Reddit and TikTok are full of "I'll sort tax later" posts; HMRC letters and surprise payments on account are what "later" looks like.

Worked example

Take a realistic starter.

22-year-old on an e-bike doing Deliveroo and Just Eat in 2025-26.

• Averages £180 a week net from apps across 48 weeks = £8,640 gross.

What this means:

• Trading allowance: gross over £1,000, so must register for Self Assessment.
• Expenses: kit, phone, repairs, say £800 across the year.
• Profit: £7,840.

For tax and NI:

• Profit below £12,570, so likely no income tax or Class 4 NI, but must still file and may choose voluntary Class 2 NI to protect pension years.

For reality:

• Needs right-to-work proof and a smartphone that meets Deliveroo specs.
• Needs a proper insulated bag, helmet, hi-vis, lights and lock.
• Needs to save something from every payout even if final tax bill is small, because later years' profits might be higher and payments on account can kick in.

What Reddit, TikTok and forums get wrong

1. "If you earn under £12,570 you don't need to tell HMRC about your gig work." Wrong. HMRC's trigger is often the £1,000 trading allowance, which is gross income, not the personal allowance.

2. "Just use personal car insurance, they'll never check if you crash while delivering." Dangerous nonsense. Deliveroo's own help pages say cars and scooters need food delivery insurance as well as regular insurance, and insurers explicitly exclude hire-and-reward from normal policies.

3. "You can start Uber without a private hire licence and sort it later." Wrong and risky. To drive UberX legally in most UK cities you need a private hire driver licence from your local authority, plus DBS and medical; driving without it is illegal and leaves you open to enforcement and insurance problems.

4. "Because Uber calls you self-employed, you have no rights at all." Not true. In Uber BV v Aslam [2021] UKSC 5, the Supreme Court said Uber drivers were workers and had minimum wage and holiday-pay rights; labels in the app do not decide the law.

5. "If my mates in r/deliveroos say HMRC won't care about small amounts, it's fine to ignore it." Wishful thinking. HMRC's own guidance and tax charities like LITRG spell out the £1,000 rule and the duty to register once you go over; platform reporting to HMRC is increasing.

Action steps for the reader

1. Decide which platform you want to start with (Uber/Deliveroo/Amazon Flex/Just Eat/Stuart/Gophr) and read their current sign-up page for your city.
2. Get your right-to-work documents, driving licence or ID, bank account and a proper insurance quote (hire-and-reward or food delivery cover) in place before you start earning.
3. Keep every receipt for kit (bag, helmet, hi-vis, lock, phone mount, power bank) and note which days you bought them.
4. From your first payout, move a fixed percentage (even 20% to 25%) into a separate tax pot and do not treat it as spending money.
5. Use a notebook or app to log your shifts, earnings and mileage from day one.
6. As soon as it looks like your gig income for 2025-26 will pass £1,000, register for Self Assessment with HMRC so you are not doing it in a panic next January.
7. Join a worker-friendly community (for example IWGB, ADCU, GMB or trusted forums) rather than relying on random TikTok advice about "tax hacks".

Related tools GigKiln should build

• "Am I self-employed yet?" checker: asks a few questions and says whether the reader likely needs to register with HMRC.
• Platform requirements comparator: side-by-side table for Uber, Deliveroo, Amazon Flex, Just Eat, Stuart, Gophr entry requirements.
• First-month starter kit cost calculator: totals basic kit, insurance and expected first-month earnings, so workers see if the numbers stack up.
• Trading-allowance tracker: simple tool to tot up gig income and warn when the £1,000 line is crossed.

Related guides

• "Self Assessment for gig workers: how to register and file your first return"
• "Insurance for Uber, Deliveroo and Amazon Flex drivers and riders in 2025-26"
• "Gig worker expenses: what you can and can't claim in 2025-26"
• "Worker vs self-employed: what Uber BV v Aslam [2021] UKSC 5 means for you"
• "Making Tax Digital for gig workers: April 2026, 2027 and 2028 explained"

Sources

Primary

• GOV.UK, Tax-free allowances on property and trading income, accessed 18 April 2026.
• LITRG, Trading allowance, accessed 18 April 2026.
• Uber, Uber Requirements for Drivers in the UK, accessed 18 April 2026.
• Uber, Right to Work Check Documents, accessed 18 April 2026.
• Deliveroo, Rider requirements, accessed 18 April 2026.

Secondary

• YourCompanyFormations, 2025/26 HMRC Trading Allowance Explained, accessed 18 April 2026.
• Inshur, Your Guide to Signing up for Uber UK (2025), accessed 18 April 2026.
• MyDriverMedical, How to Become an Uber Driver in Birmingham, accessed 18 April 2026.
• Primal Cars, How to Become an Uber Driver in London: Ultimate Guide 2025, accessed 18 April 2026.
• Wise, How to Become an Uber Driver in the UK, accessed 18 April 2026.