New to gig work in the UK? Your first 90 days sorted

Who this is for

You signed up to Uber, Deliveroo, Uber Eats, Amazon Flex, Just Eat or Stuart in the last few weeks. Maybe you did your first shift. Maybe you are still waiting for background checks. You are not sure if you have to tell HMRC, whether your car insurance covers you, what to do about expenses, or how payments and fees actually work. This page puts the first 90 days in one place so you do not get a nasty letter in 18 months.

Your first moves (first 30 days)

• Register as self-employed with HMRC the day you pass £1,000 in gross gig income across the tax year. The deadline is 5 October after the tax year in which you cross it, but register early so you never miss it.
• Open a separate current account just for gig work. Starling, Monzo or Chase all do free business or personal accounts that work. Run every platform payout into it. Run every fuel, phone and repair bill out of it.
• Check your motor insurance covers hire and reward (PHV) or delivery use. Standard social, domestic and pleasure cover does not. If you drive one mile for Uber or deliver one pizza with standard cover, the insurer can void the policy.
• Install a mileage tracker app on day one. HMRC accept 45p per mile up to 10,000 business miles and 25p per mile after. Backfilling mileage from memory later is a disaster.
• Read your platform's terms of service. Yes, really. Especially the deactivation clauses, the service fee clauses (Uber's December 2025 rewrite, which ADCU reported introduced a 3 to 49 percent service fee range, hit drivers who ignored the email) and the payment timing rules.

Guides you need

• starting gig work in the UK: complete beginner guide
• how to register as self-employed with HMRC
• the £1,000 trading allowance explained
• platform sign-up: what to expect and what to upload
• best business banking for gig drivers
• self-assessment for gig workers
• hire and reward insurance explained
• the Aslam ruling and why it matters to you

Tools you need

• trading allowance check — decides whether you even need to file self-assessment this year
• sa tax shock estimator — predicts your January tax bill so you do not panic in the new year
• mileage vs actual costs — picks the tax method that saves you the most
• worker status self test — tells you which rights you actually have under UK law

Crisis pages to bookmark

• just deactivated uber today — the three-hour window to appeal matters
• customer made false complaint — it will happen, here is the script
• accident while working — what to do at the roadside and with the platform

Last reviewed

19 April 2026