uk travel expenses

How much does it cost to visit the UK? (Budget planning guide)

By: Author Tracy Collins

Posted on Last updated: August 5, 2023

One of the most important steps when planning your holiday is calculating what you need to budget for your trip. Use my guide and estimate the cost of a trip to the UK including flights, accommodation, transportation, tours and more .

When planning any trip the inevitable question of how much it will cost and what to budget for is a huge consideration for most of us. In this article I will go through the main costs you need to budget for when planning your trip to the UK.

Obviously, individual costs will vary depending on your interests and travel style – Are you travelling solo/with family? Are you a luxury or budget traveller? Are you planning to travel independently or with a tour? Etc

As with my UK trip planner (which helps you to plan your visit step by step) this guide to calculating UK trip costs will help you through the process of budgeting in a systematic manner whether you are a budget traveller or looking to splurge on your trip.

Why not download my printable budget trip planner to use as you work through the article?

UK Travel Planning Podcast

Flights to the uk, average accommodation costs, holiday home rentals in the uk, tickets and passes in london, tours and day trips, additional expenses, visit during the shoulder season, budgeting for popular destinations such as london, conclusion – how much does it cost to visit the uk.

Episode #57 : Insider tips for exploring the UK on a budget

Calculating how much a trip to the UK will cost

If you are flying to the UK from outside of Europe flights will probably be the most expensive part of your trip.

It is worth calculating the cost of your flights as early as possible in the budgeting process. I recommend using Skyscanner to find the average prices for the time of year you are planning to visit.

Enter your departure point and destination into the price tracker on Skyscanner and you will discover the *average prices across the month.

* Please to bear in mind that at present flight prices are best estimates and may be affected by Covid-19.

Accommodation in the UK

There are many accommodation options across the UK to suit all travel styles and budgets.

Accommodation in major cities and popular tourist destinations such as the Cotswolds and the Lake District will generally be more expensive but budget options are available if you book as early as possible.

Expect to pay more for accommodation in London than elsewhere in the UK. I recommend staying within close proximity of the main sights in London even though hotels, Airbnb and apartments may be slightly more expensive.

There is nothing worse than having a long day of sightseeing followed by a commute to accommodation on busy public transport.

Here are the average prices per double room per night depending on your preferences:

• Budget – Less than £65 per night (London £90 + per night)
• Mid-range – £65 – 120 per night (London £120+ per night)
• Luxury – £120+ per night (London £200+ per night)

There are a number of budget chain hotels in the UK which provide excellent accommodation options. These include Travelodge, Premier Inn, Ibis, Z Hotels, Holiday Inn and Novotel.

From cosy cottages in the Cotswolds , to log cabins with hot tubs in the Lake District, to castles in Scotland and luxury apartments in London there are many unique holiday homes available to rent across the UK.

Find the perfect holiday home rental for your stay in my accommodation guides to London , England , Scotland and Wales .

Read – UK Accommodation Guide

Transportation

If you plan to explore the UK there are a variety of transportation options available.

Renting a car is a great way to explore the countryside and areas which have limited or poor public transport options. However don’t forget to consider insurance, petrol, and parking fees when calculating costs.

Average costs for car hire in the UK per week are

• £100 + a week for a small car suitable for 2 people
• £160 + for a mid size car suitable for 4 people
• £250 + per week for a larger car, people carrier or SUV

Check car rental prices with RentalCars.com

Avoid driving in London (limited parking, traffic jams and the Congestion Charge are just a few reasons why)

If you do plan to pick up a hire car after a few days in London it is cheaper to do this at a train station outside of the capital.

Other ways to save money on car rental include hiring the car for a week or more (prices are more expensive for shorter rental periods) and to return the car to the same location. Of course, this is not always possible but it will reduce costs.

Read – Guide to renting a car in the UK – Practical tips and information

If you plan to visit the major cities across the UK travelling by train is an excellent way to get from A-B-C-D. Purchase tickets in advance (bookings open 90 days before the date of travel) or consider purchasing train passes for greater savings.

Check out the TrainLine for prices.

For budget-conscious travellers there are long-distance coach services to all major airports and cities. Do bear in mind that though this may be the cheapest option it is also the slowest.

Transfers from major airports such as from Heathrow into London can be taken by taxi, train or bus with dedicated express trains connecting to local public transport.

For travel around London purchasing a visitor Oyster Card is recommended prior to arrival. An Oyster Card is a reusable electronic ticket that enables access to London transport including the Tube and buses.

Read more about how to get around in London .

Read more – Guide to transportation in the UK

From fish and chips to pub food to 3 Michelin starred restaurants there are options for every budget in the UK!

To maximise your food budget visit markets, tea shops, pubs and fish and chip shops which can all offer reasonably priced food options. We also recommend looking for accommodation with breakfast included or booking an apartment or Airbnb so you can cater for some of the meals yourselves.

Supermarkets such as Sainsburys , Marks & Spencers and Tesco’s offer ‘Meal Deals’ of a sandwich, drink and packet of crisps/chocolate bar or piece of fruit for between £3 – £5.

Chain restaurants such as Nandos, Frankie and Benny’s, Harvester, Brewers Fayre, Bella Italia, Prezzo, Toby Carvery, Wagamama, Pizza Hut and Weatherspoons are found in major cities and are reasonably priced options.

Be careful with drinks though as it can push up costs. Often eateries will have speciality nights – curry/ steak for example with special offers such as 2 for 1 or a free drink.

If enjoying an afternoon tea is on your UK bucket list there are many options to choose from to suit all budgets and tastes.

You will find many different afternoon teas to choose from in London including traditional (The Ritz or Fortnum & Mason), themed (Harry Potter and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) or afternoon teas with spectacular views (The Shard) Prices vary considerably but expect to pay on average from £40 a head in London

You can read more about different British foods you may co me across in this article.

Average costs

• Pub meal – £7 -11
• Main course in restaurant – £10 to £20
• 3 course meal in a good restaurant – £40 +

Sightseeing expenses

If you are heading to London the good news is that there are lots of free things to do there – many of the world famous museums and art galleries have no admission charges (there may be small fees for specific exhibits) but entry is free.

If you have a long bucket list of sights to see in London it is worth calculating if the London Pass is a cost-effective purchase.

The London Pass includes entry to 80 of London’s main attractions including the Tower of London , the London Eye , Westminster Abbey and the view from the Shard and could save you over 50% on regular gate prices. Pass holders can also skip the queue and avoid long waits for some of the most popular attractions.

Click here to find out how you could save money with the London Pass

There are a myriad of tours to choose from in London to suit all tastes and interests from walking tours, themed tours, tours with a historical focus, foodie tours or general sightseeing tours aimed at first-time visitors .

Costs vary depending on the group size with small group tours prices from £40 – £200 and larger group tours from £15 plus per person.

Private tours of London and attractions are available and can cost anything from £25 per person upwards.

Day tours to popular destinations outside of London such as the Cotswolds , Stonehenge and Oxford vary again in cost depending on distance, the number of places visited, inclusions and group size. Expect to pay approximately £75 + per person for a larger group tour from London (or any other major UK city)

Private day trips to destinations outside London cost from around £500 + for 4 persons.

If you are on a budget costs for tickets, tours and day trips can really mount up. I recommend identifying which places are the most important for you to visit (for every destination you include in your UK itinerary) and calculating and comparing the costs of an organised tour or day trip with regular gate prices or the cost of travelling to the attraction independently.

I recommend taking insurance out as soon as your flights are booked. Not only will insurance provide peace of mind in the event of a trip cancellation but it also ensures you are covered for medical emergencies while away.

Travel insurance may also provide coverage for loss or theft of items, flight delays and even repatriation to your country of origin in the event of a medical emergency.

Obviously the cost of insurance will vary depending on your country of residence, your age, any existing medical conditions and level of cover.

We never travel without insurance. It is just not worth the risk.

Don’t forget to add a few ££’s a day towards some of the additional expenses you can expect.

Adding an extra £5/10 per day to cover these smaller daily costs should cover it.

• Wifi and internet access charges – The cost of accessing wifi will depend on which option you choose – read my detailed guides to the various options for internet access in the UK
• Tipping – Tipping is not expected in bars. Restaurants 10% of the bill is fine if service was not included in the bill. Black cabs round up to the nearest £
• Storing luggage – £5 for up to 24 hours
• Souvenirs – Budget a small amount towards any souvenirs you may wish to purchase.

How to reduce costs when visiting the UK

If you are visiting the UK during the summer (particularly late July and August) expect prices to be higher.

During UK school holidays (one week at the end of May/beginning of June and 6 weeks from July to early September) prices increase and availability may be limited.

Prices fall during the shoulder season March-May and September-October and the weather is generally not too bad (expect showers and sunny spells)

London is an expensive city to visit but there are ways to reduce your costs.

• Purchasing an Oyster Card and using public transportation (which is the easiest, quickest and cheapest way to get around London )
• If you plan to visit a number of popular sights and attractions a London Travel Pass may be the most cost effective way. Read my complete guide to the London Pass and save money when you visit London
• There are lots of free things to do in London including many of the world’s best museums, such as the British Museum or the Natural History Museum. Read more – 32 free things to do in London
• Read my budget guide to London for more tips and suggestions.
• Read my guide to visiting London for first time visitors which includes some essential tips to reduce costs

While everyone’s trip budget will be different depending on the length of your stay, accommodation choices, transportation, travel style etc this budget guide will have given you an idea of the cost of your trip to the UK.

To help you further why not download my UK Budget Planner sheet ? The sheet will enable you to keep track of all your expenses as you plan your trip.

• Travel Planning Guide

United Kingdom Travel Budget - Visit United Kingdom on a Budget or Travel in Style

• Is the United Kingdom Expensive?
• How much does a trip to the United Kingdom cost?
• UK On-Your-Own Itineraries
• Northern Ireland
• UK Hotel Prices
• UK Cities: Hotel Prices by City
• Best Family-Friendly Hotels in the United Kingdom
• Best Hotels for One Week in the United Kingdom
• Best Hotels for First Time Visitors in the United Kingdom
• Best Romantic Hotels for Couples in the United Kingdom
• Best Beach Hotels in the United Kingdom
• Best Pet-Friendly Hotels in the United Kingdom
• Best Hotels for One Night in the United Kingdom
• Best Hotels for Skiing in the United Kingdom
• Best Hotels for Scuba Diving in the United Kingdom
• Best Adults Only Hotels in the United Kingdom
• Best Party Hotels in the United Kingdom
• Best Luxury Hotels in the United Kingdom
• Best Cheap Hotels in the United Kingdom
• Best Hotels for a Weekend Getaway in the United Kingdom
• Best Business Hotels in the United Kingdom
• Hostel Prices & Reviews
• UK Activities
• UK Tour Prices
• The Best Family-Friendly Tours to UK
• The Best Hiking & Trekking Tours in UK
• The Best Historical Tours in UK
• The Best One Week (7-Day) Tours in UK
• The Best 3-Day Tours in UK
• The Best 2-Week Tours in UK
• The Best Bicycle Tours in UK
• Tours for Outdoor and Nature Lovers in UK
• The Best Christmas & New Years Tours in UK
• The Best Coach Bus Tours in UK
• The Best Adventure Tours to UK
• The Best Eco Tours in UK
• The Best Sightseeing Tours in UK
• The Best Cultural Tours in UK
• The Best Romantic Tours for Couples in UK
• The Best Tours Under $1000 in UK
• The Best Luxury Tours to UK
• The Best Budget Tours to UK
• The Best Tours for Seniors to UK
• Lake District National Park
• How much does it cost to travel to the United Kingdom? (Average Daily Cost)
• The United Kingdom trip costs: one week, two weeks, one month

How much do package tours cost in the United Kingdom?

Is the united kingdom expensive to visit.

• How much do I need for a trip to the United Kingdom?
• Accommodation, Food, Entertainment, and Transportation Costs
• Travel Guide

How much does it cost to travel to the United Kingdom?

You should plan to spend around $193 (£153) per day on your vacation in the United Kingdom. This is the average daily price based on the expenses of other visitors.

Past travelers have spent, on average for one day:

• $47 (£37) on meals
• $36 (£29) on local transportation
• $192 (£152) on hotels

A one week trip to the United Kingdom for two people costs, on average, $2,699 (£2,142) . This includes accommodation, food, local transportation, and sightseeing.

All of these average travel prices have been collected from other travelers to help you plan your own travel budget.

• Travel Style: All Budget (Cheap) Mid-Range Luxury (High-End)
• Average Daily Cost Per person, per day $ 193 £ 153
• One Week Per person $ 1,349 £ 1,071
• 2 Weeks Per person $ 2,699 £ 2,142
• One Month Per person $ 5,783 £ 4,590
• One Week For a couple $ 2,699 £ 2,142
• 2 Weeks For a couple $ 5,398 £ 4,284
• One Month For a couple $ 11,567 £ 9,179

How much does a one week, two week, or one month trip to the United Kingdom cost?

A one week trip to the United Kingdom usually costs around $1,349 (£1,071) for one person and $2,699 (£2,142) for two people. This includes accommodation, food, local transportation, and sightseeing.

A two week trip to the United Kingdom on average costs around $2,699 (£2,142) for one person and $5,398 (£4,284) for two people. This cost includes accommodation, food, local transportation, and sightseeing.

Please note, prices can vary based on your travel style, speed, and other variables. If you're traveling as a family of three or four people, the price per person often goes down because kid's tickets are cheaper and hotel rooms can be shared. If you travel slower over a longer period of time then your daily budget will also go down. Two people traveling together for one month in the United Kingdom will often have a lower daily budget per person than one person traveling alone for one week.

A one month trip to the United Kingdom on average costs around $5,783 (£4,590) for one person and $11,567 (£9,179) for two people. The more places you visit, the higher the daily price will become due to increased transportation costs.

Organized tours are usually more expensive than independent travel, but offer convenience and peace of mind that your trip has been planned by a travel expert.

The average price for an organized tour package in the United Kingdom is $275 per day. While every tour varies by total price, length, number of destinations, and quality, this is the daily average price based on our analysis of available guided tours.

• 4 Day Skye Spectacular 4 Days - 10 Destinations $ 359
• Scotland's Highlands Islands and Cities (13 Days) 13 Days - 17 Destinations $ 4,475

Independent Travel

Traveling Independently has many benefits including affordabilty, freedom, flexibility, and the opportunity to control your own experiences.

All of the travel costs below are based on the experiences of other independent travelers.

The United Kingdom is a moderately priced destination to visit. It's about average with most other countries for travel costs. The prices for food, accommodation, and transportation are all fairly reasonable.

Within Europe, which is known to be an expensive region, the United Kingdom is moderately priced compared to the other countries. The overall cost of travel here is comparable to the Netherlands or Denmark.

For more details, see Is the United Kingdom Expensive?

How much money do I need for a trip to the United Kingdom?

The average United Kingdom trip cost is broken down by category here for independent travelers. All of these United Kingdom travel prices are calculated from the budgets of real travelers.

Accommodation Budget in the United Kingdom

Average daily costs.

Calculated from travelers like you

The average price paid for one person for accommodation in the United Kingdom is $96 (£76). For two people sharing a typical double-occupancy hotel room, the average price paid for a hotel room in the United Kingdom is $192 (£152). This cost is from the reported spending of actual travelers.

• Accommodation 1 Hotel or hostel for one person $ 96 £ 76
• Accommodation 1 Typical double-occupancy room $ 192 £ 152

Hotel Prices in the United Kingdom

Looking for a hotel in the United Kingdom? Prices vary by location, date, season, and the level of luxury. See below for options.

Find the best hotel for your travel style.

Actual Hotel Prices The average hotel room price in the United Kingdom based on data provided by Kayak for actual hotel rooms is $113. (Prices in U.S. Dollars, before taxes & fees.)

Kayak helps you find the best prices for hotels, flights, and rental cars for destinations around the world.

Recommended Properties

• Abergavenny Hotel Budget Hotel - Kayak $ 173
• East Horton Farmhouse Luxury Hotel - Kayak $ 114

Local Transportation Budget in the United Kingdom

The cost of a taxi ride in the United Kingdom is significantly more than public transportation. On average, past travelers have spent $36 (£29) per person, per day, on local transportation in the United Kingdom.

• Local Transportation 1 Taxis, local buses, subway, etc. $ 36 £ 29

Recommended Services

• Harry Potter Warner Bros Studio Private Transfer Pickup & Return Viator $ 282
• One Way Taxi Transfer from London to Stansted Airport Viator $ 192

What did other people spend on Local Transportation?

Typical prices for Local Transportation in the United Kingdom are listed below. These actual costs are from real travelers and can give you an idea of the Local Transportation prices in the United Kingdom, but your costs will vary based on your travel style and the place where the purchase was made.

• Oyster Card £ 27
• Train to Gatwick Airport (2) £ 22
• Toll Way - Mersey tunnel £ 1.70
• Parking £ 1.70
• Parking in Manchester £ 3.00
• City bike hire Liverpool £ 6.00
• Parking £ 2.00
• Ferry to Isle of Wight £ 16

Food Budget in the United Kingdom

While meal prices in the United Kingdom can vary, the average cost of food in the United Kingdom is $47 (£37) per day. Based on the spending habits of previous travelers, when dining out an average meal in the United Kingdom should cost around $19 (£15) per person. Breakfast prices are usually a little cheaper than lunch or dinner. The price of food in sit-down restaurants in the United Kingdom is often higher than fast food prices or street food prices.

• Food 2 Meals for one day $ 47 £ 37

Recommended

• Royal English Walking Food Tour With London Food Tours Viator $ 128
• Durham Food Tour Viator $ 96

What did other people spend on Food?

Typical prices for Food in the United Kingdom are listed below. These actual costs are from real travelers and can give you an idea of the Food prices in the United Kingdom, but your costs will vary based on your travel style and the place where the purchase was made.

• Lunch for 2 £ 23
• Lunch for 2 £ 46
• Nice lunch at Fleece £ 61
• Coffee (2) £ 4.80
• Turkish Delight £ 1.40
• 2 Coffees and Scones £ 5.80
• Soup at the Pub £ 5.90
• Lunch for 2 £ 17

Entertainment Budget in the United Kingdom

Entertainment and activities in the United Kingdom typically cost an average of $35 (£27) per person, per day based on the spending of previous travelers. This includes fees paid for admission tickets to museums and attractions, day tours, and other sightseeing expenses.

• Entertainment 1 Entrance tickets, shows, etc. $ 35 £ 27

Recommended Activities

• Agatha Christie walking tour - the story of her extraordinary life Viator $ 26
• The Great British Rock and Roll Walking Tour Viator $ 32

What did other people spend on Entertainment?

Typical prices for Entertainment in the United Kingdom are listed below. These actual costs are from real travelers and can give you an idea of the Entertainment prices in the United Kingdom, but your costs will vary based on your travel style and the place where the purchase was made.

• Lunch £ 12
• Comedy Show £ 8.00
• London Pass £ 47
• Warwick Castle (2) £ 59
• Thermal Bath Spa £ 35
• Luss Highland Games Entrance Fee (for 2) £ 12
• Two Bike Rental £ 34

Tips and Handouts Budget in the United Kingdom

The average cost for Tips and Handouts in the United Kingdom is $32 (£25) per day. The usual amount for a tip in the United Kingdom is 10% - 20% .

• Tips and Handouts 1 For guides or service providers $ 32 £ 25

Scams, Robberies, and Mishaps Budget in the United Kingdom

Unfortunately, bad things can happen on a trip. Well, you've just got to deal with it! The average price for a scam, robbery, or mishap in the United Kingdom is $93 (£74), as reported by travelers.

• Scams, Robberies, and Mishaps 1 $ 93 £ 74

Alcohol Budget in the United Kingdom

The average person spends about $16 (£13) on alcoholic beverages in the United Kingdom per day. The more you spend on alcohol, the more fun you might be having despite your higher budget.

• Alcohol 2 Drinks for one day $ 16 £ 13
• Shakespeare Distillery Tour - 11am Ticket Viator $ 25
• Tayport Distillery Tour & Tastings Viator $ 19

What did other people spend on Alcohol?

Typical prices for Alcohol in the United Kingdom are listed below. These actual costs are from real travelers and can give you an idea of the Alcohol prices in the United Kingdom, but your costs will vary based on your travel style and the place where the purchase was made.

• Half Pint at Tollbooth Tavern £ 1.65
• Ciders at Kilted Skirlie £ 3.50
• Bottle of Wine £ 12
• Drinks at the Walnut Pub (for 2) £ 10
• Pitcher of Pimms £ 15
• Drinks at the Pub (for 2) £ 7.55
• Beer & Wine £ 14
• Beers £ 8.00

Water Budget in the United Kingdom

On average, people spend $5.04 (£4.00) on bottled water in the United Kingdom per day. The public water in the United Kingdom is considered safe to drink.

• Water 2 Bottled water for one day $ 5.04 £ 4.00

Related Articles

The united kingdom on a budget.

At A Glance

• London is notoriously expensive. It's easily the cheapest city to fly into, but once you arrive you'll find your money quickly disappears. If you're hoping to keep costs down, spend more time in the other areas around the United Kingdom and less time in London. In the more rural communities you'll find that your expenses are far less.
• The countries that make up the United Kingdom each have their own set of bank holidays. Look at a calender before you schedule your trip to make sure that your vacation does not overlap any of these bank holidays. If it does, you will find that prices are higher and attractions are more crowded.
• There are many discount airlines that fly into and out of London and the United Kingdom. If you book tickets through one of these airlines, make sure that you understand all of the restrictions as well as what's included in the price. Some flights fly into inconvenient airports as well, so confirm that there are transportation connections available to where you need to go.
• If you're traveling by train, there are usually discounts available for children or groups. Also, there are regional railcards available if you plan to take several different trips within the area. Research all of the restrictions on these cards prior to purchasing them. If you do decide to buy single tickets, it is best to buy them in advance when the prices are often lower. Great Britain is an area where you will benefit from having a set schedule and itinerary in advance of your trip.
• There are several different bus companies available throughout the country. The buses are usually of high quality and they generally run on schedule. The more popular bus companies include National Express, Megabus, CityLink, and Dot2Dot. Some companies are focused on specific regions, while other serve the entire country. Some companies are also notoriously cheaper than others.

Top Tourist Attractions

Popular foods, more related articles.

We've been gathering travel costs from tens of thousands of actual travelers since 2010, and we use the data to calculate average daily travel costs for destinations around the world. We also systematically analyze the prices of hotels, hostels, and tours from travel providers such as Kayak, HostelWorld, TourRadar, Viator, and others. This combination of expenses from actual travelers, combined with pricing data from major travel companies, gives us a uniqe insight into the overall cost of travel for thousands of cities in countries around the world. You can see more here: How it Works .

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Finding the Universe

Travel tales, photography and a dash of humor

How Much Does it Cost to Travel in the UK?

Last updated: October 31, 2022 . Written by Laurence Norah - 28 Comments

One of the most common questions we’re asked from people who read our UK guides, and in particular our detailed one week and two week UK itinerary posts is: how much does it cost to travel in the UK?

Of course, the answer is – it depends! There are a lot of factors to consider, from your travel style (budget to luxury) through to who you are travelling with (solo, family, group), and the kind of travel you want to do (self-drive, group tour, etc).

Then of course there are the attractions you are interested in visiting, the time of year you visit – there are just so many variables to take into account. Which makes answering the question quite tricky!

But we’re going to tackle it anyway. In this post I’m going to go through all the major costs you need to consider when planning a trip to the UK, and provide budget ranges for each of them.

This should give you some good ideas of what a trip like this might cost. We’ll also provide some money saving tips for each area.

Let’s get started.

In summary, you are looking at between £75 and £200 per day per person for travel in the UK. These costs will of course vary depending on your travel style, sights visited, type of transport used and dining choices.

In this post we’re going to go into detail on the four main cost areas you need to consider when travelling in the UK. These are:

• Accommodation
• Sightseeing

We’re going to look at each of these individually to give you some cost ideas. At the end of the post we’ll then put these together to give ideas of a total trip cost for the UK for a few different travel styles.

1. Transport Costs for Travel in the UK

There are a number of ways to travel in the UK. To start with, there is an excellent public transport network in the UK which includes long distance bus services (also called coaches in the UK), a good passenger rail network and multiple low cost airlines.

Our preferred way of travel in the UK (and abroad), is to self-drive where possible. We find it gives us the greatest flexibility, letting us stop when we want to, and not have to be strict about following a timetable. Of course, depending on the type of trip you want to do, this might not be the best option – if you’re only visiting cities for example, we recommend using public transport to get between them.

Price of Car Rental in the UK

• Budget : £100 – £150 per week for a small car that will fit two people and luggage
• Mid-range: £200 – £300 per week for a mid-range car that will fit four people and luggage
• High-end:  £400 – 600 per week for a small SUV or car capable of carrying more than five people

Money Saving Tips for Car Hire in the UK

Book by the week.  Most car hire companies offer better rates if you book for a week rather than a few days. Of course, there’s no point booking for a week if you only need the car for a day or two, but you might find that seven days is cheaper than six for example. We have also found that when we book a car for two or three weeks, many hire car companies have given us a free upgrade to say thanks for our custom.

Pick up your hire car on leaving the city.  In the UK, there is really no need to have a hire car in a city. UK cities are for the most part easy to get around either on foot, or have excellent public transport networks. Your hire car will likely spend its time costing money in an expensive parking lot. So just book your rental for when you leave the city.

Don’t pick it up at the airport. If you can avoid picking up your hire car at the airport, you will usually save money. Most car hire companies charge higher rates for cars picked up at the airport – it’s a combination of a trapped market and a convenience factor. Compare prices between the airport and the city, and if you can get to the city easily from the airport, and the price is better, do that.

Avoid one-way trips where possible.  Most car hire companies will charge you extra if you want to drop the car off in a different place to where you picked it up. We have actually done this many times – the key is to find a car rental company that charges minimal one-way fees. In our experience, Enterprise is pretty good for this.

Don’t forget the fuel costs. Fuel in the UK is relatively expensive compared to somewhere like the USA. Thankfully, the majority of cars are quite fuel efficient and distances aren’t that great. However, fuel prices vary wildly. Generally, the cheapest fuel can be found at supermarkets, such as Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury’s. The most expensive fuel is usually along the motorways, at the service stations.

Avoid additional fees:  The way that hire companies bump up their revenues is by charging you for a lot of addons when you come to pick up your car. These can include everything from a GPS unit through to extra insurance cover. Many of these are not truly necessary, and some travellers might find that their credit card already offers things like Collision Damage Waiver insurance. So definitely check in advance what addons you need, so you don’t fall prey to high pressure sales tactics at the rental desk.

Use a comparison service:  For car hire, whilst we often use  Enterprise , we will also check with other providers. We find the fastest way to do this is with a comparison search site that lets us compare prices across multiple providers at the same time. Two good options that cover car hire in the UK are  Rentalcars.com  and  AutoEurope . Just make sure when comparing prices that additional fees like one-way drop offs are covered.

Consider your age:  Car hire companies around the world give better rates to what they consider to be more experienced drivers. Younger drivers, particularly those 21 and under, can pay hefty surcharges for car rental. Usually, drivers over 30 get the best rates. If you are travelling in a group of different ages, consider renting the car in the name of the older driver. Just be aware that you might need to pay more to add additional drivers, so be sure that the named driver is happy to do all the driving if necessary.

Price of Public Transport in the UK

Public transport in the UK is difficult to put a price on as there are huge variables depending on where you are going, how far in advance you book, and how you travel (bus, train, plane) – as well as if you choose to travel in standard class or a more premium class.

As an example though, a one way single ticket from London to Edinburgh by train (~4hr 30 min) would cost you around £150. If you book the same trip in advance, you could go on the same journey for as little as £25 one-way.

A similar journey by coach would take between 10 and 15 hours, and cost between £16 and £80.

You could also fly, which would take around an hour of actual flight time (although you would need to factor in the time of getting to and from the airport and check-in). Flights with a budget airline from London to Edinburgh for example start from as little as £13 (with no luggage!), and go up to around £200.

Money Saving Tips for Public Transport in the UK

Book in advance.  For planes, buses and coaches, the best prices are available if you book well in advance, and if you can be a little bit flexible with your timings. Avoid travelling at peak times (usually 0630 – 0930 & 1530 – 1830).

Use the right booking site.  For train tickets, we recommend The Trainline, which we have found to be the most user friendly option. Opt to pick up your tickets from the station to avoid postal charges, or use their e-ticket option. They also let you book tickets for destinations all across Europe, and so are a handy one stop shop for all your ticket needs.

For long distance buses, there are a number of operators to choose from. The two we would recommend are  National Express  and  Megabus , both of which offer a wide range of routes across the country.

For flights, we suggest a good comparison engine that includes the budget airlines – we recommend Kiwi.com .

Go carry on only.  If you choose to fly, packing carry-on only can save you a good amount in baggage fees. Just be aware that UK airlines have different baggage size standards to other airlines around the world, so always check with the airline first.

2. Accommodation Costs for a UK Trip

Accommodation is one of the major costs for any travel, and a UK trip is no different. Of course, the question  “how much does accommodation cost in the UK?” is not straightforward, and there are multiple factors to consider – everything from time of year through to the level of comfort and service you need will affect the price.

There are lots of options for accommodation in the UK, so whatever your budget, we are confident you will be able to find something to suit your travel needs.

Our costs are based on two people sharing a private room, but there are other options of course, including dormitory accommodation in hostels, if you are looking to save even more.

Price of Accommodation in the UK

• Budget:  £40 – £100 for a budget room for two people, usually this would be an en-suite room. Dorm rooms are also available, think around £25 per bed.
• Mid-range: £100 – £150 would get you a nice room for two in most parts of the country
• High-end: £250+ would normally be the starting point for a room in a luxury property, although deals can be had, see below for more information

Money Saving Tips for Accommodation in the UK

Travel off-peak.  If you can travel in the quieter times of year, such as January and February, particularly in less visited parts of the UK, you can score some remarkable deals. For example, we stayed in this luxury hotel near Inverness for £70 per night including breakfast in February. The same room in June is over £300!

Check the hotel website for deals.  Whilst we love booking engines for their convenience, sometimes we find that a particular property has a special deal running that’s only available if you check their website. These might be things like three nights for the price of two, or free breakfast if you book direct.

Book online.  We use booking.com extensively for our travel accommodation. After making five bookings, we qualified for their extra “Genius” discount, which often scores us an extra 10% off. We also like that they list everything from hostels to apartments to hotels of all categories, making it an excellent one-stop shop for our accommodation needs.

Use Alternative Accommodation Providers . There has been an explosion in options in the accommodation market over the last decade or so. If you’re on a tight budget, definitely consider websites like  Couchsurfing.  There are lot of options out there to help you find great value accommodation, so take advantage of them. Take a look at our guide to AirBnB Alternatives and holiday accommodation websites for the UK for more inspiration.

3. Food Costs for a UK Trip

The UK used to have a pretty poor reputation when it came to food, but thankfully over the last ten – twenty years this has improved a great deal, and you can now get really fantastic meals as you travel. That said, dining in the UK is not particularly cheap, although there are some ways to reduce the costs.

One thing to note, for US readers in particular, tax is always included in menu prices in the UK, so what you see is what you pay. Service is not included, but tips are appreciated.

Price of Dining in the UK

• Budget:  £5 – £10 per person per meal at a fast food restaurant or takeaway style meal
• Mid-range:  £10 – £30 per person per meal at a mid-range restaurant or nice pub style meal
• High-end:  £35+ per person per meal at a nice restaurant

Money Saving Tips for Dining in the UK

Drink less.  Drinking with a meal can really push your budget up. Even soft drinks can be quite expensive in the UK, so if you can stick with tap water with your meal, you can save a fair bit of money.

Find deals.  Whilst not as common as say France, you can still find good deals in the UK for dining out. Many restaurants will offer early-bird dining specials for example, for dining at times earlier than usual, such as 5pm – 6.30pm. Others may have special menu deals, where you can get a two or three course meal at a discount at lunchtime.

Fast food.  Don’t forget the fast food chains if you’re looking for cheap and easy food on the go. As well as reducing your time spent eating if you’re having a full day of exploring, these can be very cheap. To really save money, skip the extras, and find the really cheap menu items. For example, you can normally buy a single hamburger at McDonald’s for under £1. Two of those and a medium fries will keep you going for a while.

Small cafes.  If fast food doesn’t do it for you, consider stopping off at a small cafe. Often attractions have these, as do department stores and other high-street locations. Normally they have a small selection of well priced menu items, such as a soup and a sandwich, or a baked potato with a filling. Usually these meals will come in at under £5 per person.

Supermarket meals. If you’re ok with a cold meal, a reliable cheap option is to get a meal from a supermarket such as Marks and Spencer. These places usually have an extensive range of sandwiches and other snacks, often very well priced. You’ll be able to get a sandwich, snack and a drink for under £5 in most cases. Plus you can then find somewhere pretty to eat it and dine al fresco! Other options for cheap eating include chains like Eat and Pret a Manger, which also offer soups and hot items.

Cook for yourself.  To really save money on your food in the UK, you should opt to cook for yourself if you can. Obviously this will need a bit of forward planning, as you’ll need to book accommodation that includes cooking facilities, such as a self-catering holiday cottage, or a hostel with a kitchen. Cooking for yourself can really save you money though.

Eat the included breakfast. If you’re staying at a hotel or bed and breakfast that includes a breakfast (or other meal), make sure you take advantage of it, as that saves you the cost of a meal.

4. Sight-seeing Costs for a UK Trip

Sight-seeing costs in the UK will really vary depending on what you are interested in seeing. There are lots of free attractions, including many museums and outdoor sights, that won’t cost you anything at all.

There are also other trips and activities, such as day trips to specific sights you might want to see (for example Stonehenge from London ) that you will want to book a tour for. If you are thinking about taking a tour, we can recommend Rabbie’s , who offer small group tours in the UK & Ireland. We also recommend Viator who offer a huge range of tours in the UK .

Costs for sight-seeing in the UK

Costs will vary tremendously depending on what you are interested in. Museums and other attractions like stately homes range from free to around £25 per person at the upper end of the scale, although £6 – £12 per person is a more common cost.

Note that many of the major museums in the UK are free, like the Natural History Museum in London, or the National Museum of Scotland, for example.

If you decide to take a tour, the price of these will vary depending on a number of factors. Private tours will cost more than group tours for example, and multi-day tours will be more expensive than day trips.

As a guide, a day trip from London, such as a visit to Stonehenge  will cost you between £50 and £110 , depending on duration and inclusions. This price is fairly reflective of day trip prices from cities around the UK – see our guides to day trips from Edinburgh , day trips from Glasgow and day trips from Inverness for more inspiration.

Multi-day group tours will cost more, usually in the region of £75 – £150 for each day of the trip. When comparing tours like this, always check what is included and what isn’t – for example, some tours will include accommodation and attraction entry, and others won’t.

Private multi-day group tours are the most expensive option of all, and you should look to budget in the region of £500 – £1000 per day for this sort of tour, which will usually include the cost of your driver and vehicle, with accommodation costs added on top.

Money Saving Tips for Sight-seeing in the UK

Get a City-based Attractions Pass.  If you’re planning on visiting a lot of attractions in the same city, you will probably find that an attractions pass will save you money. For London, we recommend the  London Pass  (see our review here ). For Edinburgh, there’s a good pass that covers Edinburgh’s royal attractions .

Get a society membership. For certain types of attraction in the UK, such as historical homes and castles, you can save money with a membership to the organisation that manages the properties.

In the UK, there are a number of these, but the key organisations are the National Trust and English Heritage .

For English Heritage, visitors to the UK can purchase either a full year long English Heritage membership or a special English Heritage Overseas Visitors Pass .

The latter pass is specially designed for overseas visitors who might want to visit a few attractions on a visit, but who might not get the full value from a yearlong membership.

For the National Trust, the story is similar. You can either join the National Trust, or get a visitor pass here .

Visit on free Days.  Sometimes museums and attractions in the UK will have free days where you can visit for free. Check the attraction’s website or social media accounts for details of when these might be.

Use qualifying concessions. Many attractions offer discounts to different demographics – for example based on your age or eligible military service. It’s always worth checking if you qualify for a discounted price. If so, make sure you carry proof of your eligibility, for example, if it’s an age-based discount, carry official government issued ID like a driving license or passport so you can prove your age.

In Summary: How Much Will a UK Trip Cost you?

Assuming two people are travelling together in the UK, using a hire car to get around and staying in private hotel rooms with en-suite facilities, our suggested costs per person per day would be as follows:

• Budget : £50 – £100
• Mid-range:  £100 – £250
• High-end: £300+

So, for a trip like our suggested two week UK itinerary , you would likely be looking at the following total approximate costs for two people for a two week UK trip.

• Car hire: £300 – £600 + fuel (~£100 – £200)
• Accommodation: £700 – £2000+
• Food: £300 – £1000
• Sight-seeing / tours:  £200+
• Total:  from around £750 per person

Of course, you can spend a little less or a lot more, depending on your travel style, but these ballpark figures should give you an idea of costs.

Also, don’t forget to include any visa costs, travel insurance, additional sightseeing, nice meals out, souvenirs, and of course, the cost of getting to and from the UK.

Further Reading for Planning your UK Trip

Hopefully in this post we’ve answered the question of how much does it cost to travel in the UK. To further help with planning your UK trip beyond the budgeting side, we have a lot more content that we think you will find useful.

• For itinerary ideas covering the whole UK, check out our 1 week and 2 week UK itineraries . These are self-drive itineraries, so do check out our guide to driving in the UK for tips.
• If you’d rather not drive yourself, we have a UK itinerary by public transport
• If you’re heading to Scotland, we have a 7 Day camping itinerary for the North Coast 500 , as well as a detailed North Coast 500 Planning Guide and a guide to our favourite B&B’s on the North Coast 500
• A two day Edinburgh itinerary  &  21 Highlights in Edinburgh
• A Two Day Glasgow and Loch Lomond itinerary
• A guide to  10 of the best Stately Homes in England
• For London, we have some detailed itineraries to help you plan your visit. These include a  1 Day London Itinerary , a  Two Day London itinerary , a 3 day London Itinerary and a  Six Day London itinerary
• The top Harry Potter sites in London
• The  Best Photography Locations in London
• Tips on Buying and Using the London Pass
• Our favourite  Things to Do in Kensington
• A guide to things to do in Portsmouth
• The  Highlights of Oxford
• Things to do in Cambridge
• Visiting  Blenheim Palace and the Cotswolds
• 20 Things To Do in Dublin
• A  Guide to Touring the Scottish Borders
• If you want a physical (or digital!) book to accompany your travels, then Amazon do a good line in  UK Travel Guides , and there is naturally a  Lonely Planet  and a  Rough Guide  to the UK available.

And that’s it for our guide to how much it costs to travel in the UK! We hope you found it useful – as always you’re welcome to share your questions and feedback in the comments below.

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There are 28 comments on this post

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Toni Hendrix says

7th October 2022 at 12:59 am

Hello, A friend and I are in our 70’s and would like to do a month+ trip perhaps in April-May 2023 so that we can see a bit more, thinking Wales, Scotland, England, Ireland. Sort of a retirement blowout! Have we lost our minds…definitely! We’re debating about various ways to travel, where to stay,etc. One of us has had Covid but no shot and the other has all shots and still got Covid. Do we both need to be vaxed? We both have Donne ancestral research and would like to see castles in our lineage: Compton in Devonshire, Bamburg, Strickland & Devonshire. She has taught school overseas and I have been. flight attendant and done some travel. Hopefully, we can figure out a rational way to do this. Is there any hope? Thank you!

Laurence Norah says

7th October 2022 at 2:23 pm

Sounds like a fun adventure! So currently you don’t need to be vaccinated to travel to the UK. You can see the latest rules here , which you will want to check before you travel. You will also want to check the rules for the country you are traveling from so you can get back home. I’d also add that things can change very quickly, so vaccination requirements for example might be reintroduced if a new strain appears. So if possible being vaccinated might make that easier, because getting a vaccination whilst abroad is likely to be challenging. Whatever you choose though, good insurance is a good idea to cover any eventualities.

I definitely think you can do the trip you mention. Given that your trip is to a few different locations you might find renting and driving a car is going to be the easier option for getting around.

Have a great time!

Ann E. McCollister says

5th February 2022 at 6:36 am

I’m 70 years old, not well off, always wanted to go to UK (England, Ireland, Scotland). Saved $2000 (!), want to make a trip with my 3 sisters before I die. I appreciate all the advice and suggestions you’ve made and will share with my sister’s and investigate further. Cheerio and much thanks, I want to do what YOU do! You needn’t reply but encouragement would help. Afraid my dream won’t be fulfilled. Annie

6th February 2022 at 12:45 pm

It’s lovely to hear from you. I am sure that with your budget the three of you will be able to make the trip happen. There are lots of good value accommodation. I’d recommend looking for good value B&B’s where breakfast is normally included. If you are happy to drive, renting a car between the four of you will be quite inexpensive. Alternatively, we can also recommend the Rabbie’s Tour company – they do really good value tours all around the UK and are a great alternative to driving yourself.

I am very sure you will be able to realise your dream. The main cost is likely to be your flight, but luckily there are lots of routes. I’d suggest signing up for something like Google Flights and their alerts for prices.

I’m also happy to offer more specific input and help if you need it, it’s no trouble at all. If you have any questions, fire away!

21st May 2020 at 4:50 pm

Dear Laurence,

Have you ever balanced the costs (in time and money) of car rental,parking and accomodation in UK?

Car rental is relatively unexpensive compared to public transport and hotels whilst unconvenienlty located accomodation sites tend to be more affordable.

Many times, having a car allowed me to stay on those far away locations and swiftly reach my daily tourist destination by car.

On the other hand, parking availability and costs sometimes bars me from reserving otherwise most convenient accomodation sites.

21st May 2020 at 4:55 pm

I haven’t done the maths precisely. The challenge is that public transport costs can vary hugely, depending on how far in advance you book it. The same ticket booked 8 weeks in advance might cost £20, wheras the same day price might be £200. So if you are able to plan in advance and be flexible with dates and times, it can be more affordable.

We prefer to travel by car if we can though, as it’s just a lot easier for the more remote locations. Public transport in the UK is great for cities and towns, but outside of this you start to rely on slower and less regular local bus routes, which will really slow a trip down. For our UK itineraries, my suggestion is usually to start in London, and to only pick up the hire car after you have done the sightseeing in the city. Outside London, parking is generally a lot easier to find and less expensive.

10th February 2020 at 7:19 am

This is great information! Many thanks. I am planning 19 nights in GB in August with my daughter. We want to drive with a train perhaps from London to Edinburgh. One travel agent here in Australia told me he couldn’t find a hire car company that would add my daughter as a second driver due to her age. She will be 21 with an open licence for more than a year. Surely this is not so!!! Are you able to reassure us that we will both be able to drive?

10th February 2020 at 1:28 pm

Thanks very much! So the legal age for renting a car in the UK is 21, however unfortunately many car hire companies set a minimum age of 25 or 23. This is down to each company having their own policy and approach to risk. However, some companies will rent to drivers at 21, such as Sixt – so it is possible. However, they charge hefty fees for the privilege, of up to £39 per day! I wasn’t able to find any other rental companies, but it’s possible if you contact local smaller car rental agencies that you might be able to find a better deal.

Best of luck, and have a great trip!

Sue Knauf says

13th January 2020 at 4:18 pm

So pleased to have come across your informative website. We (my husband & I) are looking planning a trip to the UK. We prefer rural rather than cities & hope to spend most of our time exploring Scotland (including some of the outer islands) & Ireland. We tend to ‘wing’ our travels rather than be highly organized. Our quandry is whether to hire a car & find accommodation each night or hire a small campervan. I have heard campervans can be a pain on the narrow roads in rural area’s. We are looking to travel probably in July. Would your answer be different if we came in May?

13th January 2020 at 4:27 pm

Lovely to have you here as a reader 🙂

So a smaller campervan will generally be fine as long as you are used to driving a manual vehicle and don’t mind reversing and driving on the left. I believe based on where your e-mail address suggests you are from that neither of these will be an issue for you.

I would say that based on your preference to wing it, that a campervan is going to make more sense. Whilst it will be more expensive than a normal car, you can get smaller vehicles ( Spaceships just launched in the UK with a range of options for example) which should be reasonably priced and easier to manoeuvre. However, the main reason for suggesting this is that winging it in the Scottish Highlands in both May and July can be a risky approach. Accommodation can book out weeks and sometimes months in advance, and not booking ahead definitely runs the very real risk of having to drive for hours to find somewhere to stay (accommodation is spread out and the roads are slow). Combine this with the fact that there are large areas with no cell phone coverage, and this would end up just being a stressful trip.

So for that reason alone, having your own bed is going to be a lot less stressful.

May and July are both popular times. May is usually busier for normal accommodation, whilst July tends to have more families and campers. May is our favourite month to travel in Scotland though, as you can usually avoid the dreaded midge 😉

We have a range of content on Scotland to help with your planning, I’d say our NC500 camping itinerary would be a great starting point.

Let me know if you have any more questions!

Renuka Rajput says

7th January 2020 at 12:51 pm

Hello I am really glad to find your website. We are planning to travel UK in March as planing to few liverpool matches at that time. Will it be good time to travel or will it be too cold to explore tourist destination.

Thanks in Advance.

7th January 2020 at 3:10 pm

Hello Renuka,

I will try to help 🙂 It is hard to answer because everyone has a different definition of cold. If you are coming from a tropical country, then March in the UK might seem cold, however if you are travelling from somewhere like Canada, it will feel warm!

Generally, March should be fine though. Temperatures will likely be between 12C and 16C, which in my opinion is good for sightseeing. March is also a good month as it won’t be too busy with tourists. You will want to bring some warm layers and also either an umbrella or raincoat, as rain is likely. That said, rain is a possibility all year in the UK.

I hope this helps 😀

11th April 2019 at 6:05 am

Hi, really great sharing with much details for travelling in UK. Wonder if you have any suggestions for travel to Manchester and thereabouts?

11th April 2019 at 11:25 am

I haven’t visited Manchester for a while, despite living there for a period many years ago. So I don’t currently have any up to date recommendations, however, we hope to visit Manchester soon and fix that!

Rosemary Anderson says

23rd March 2019 at 6:50 pm

I love your site and have found great ideas for my family’s upcoming trip.

One question: We are doing a home exchange with a family who has offered to let us use their car–which is great. But we have looked (quite a bit!) online, and it seems to be very difficult to get insurance on anything other than a rental car. Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks, Rosemary

23rd March 2019 at 7:10 pm

Hi Rosemary!

Thanks very much 🙂 So this is an interesting question. Normally in the UK the car insurance policy is associated with a specific driver (normally the owner and then any other drivers) rather than some countries where you insure the car and then anyone can drive it.

My initial response is that I’m not sure exactly how you would go about doing this. Based on my experiences driving friends cars in the UK, they have had to ring their insurance to add me as a named driver. However, I don’t know exactly how this works with non-UK licenses, nor do I know how it might affect their insurance should something happen.

I did a search, and whilst this service does exist, it doesn’t seem to cover US license holders, only holders from specific countries like those in the EU, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand.

The only company I found that does seem to include US drivers was this one: https://www.hertsinsurance.com/walkabout/

I have never used them and I can’t comment on what they cover or if they are any good, but it might be worth a try!

Good luck 🙂

13th January 2019 at 2:36 am

Wow, just found your itinerary and I’m going to follow it, with a couple minor tweaks to the schedule when I go June 1st with my husband and son. Thanks for all the great advice and mapping it out. Mona

13th January 2019 at 9:48 am

Our pleasure Mona – have a great trip, and let us know how it goes!

Paul Gadsdon says

23rd December 2018 at 4:24 pm

You will find UK car hire half the price of the US. You can get a small car for £80 a week

Also dont forget all UK national museums (about 300 or so), are free

23rd December 2018 at 4:32 pm

Thanks for your input! I’ve updated the budget hire car price. I think £100 – £150 is reasonable, I’ve taken a look on various sites and for various dates, and it’s a definite struggle to get a week of car hire with unlimited mileage for much less than that.

I’ll make a point about the free museums too 🙂

Thanks again!

Cheang PY says

26th November 2018 at 2:00 pm

Awfully glad to have found your website. Very informative. 6 of us retirees (age 57-80) are planning to self-drive UK for 2 weeks, visiting Cornwall and Wales. Would like advice on accommodation (homestay/airbnb?), etc. Thank you.

27th November 2018 at 11:21 am

Our pleasure. With a group, an AirBnB or similar would be a great idea, as you can usually get more for your money. Our only advice is to only book places with good reviews. The best option is simply to search a site like AirBnb (we also have a list of Airbnb alternatives here, ) for the dates and number of people for the destinations you want to visit, and work from there.

Have a great trip!

19th January 2019 at 4:14 pm

Thank you for your suggestions. We are also looking at mpv for hire for six. Is it cheaper to get the vehicle at the airport? Thank you.

19th January 2019 at 4:24 pm

My pleasure. If you mean in comparison to booking in advance, I would say in general it will be more expensive booking car hire at the airport.

If you mean will it be cheaper picking up from the airport or from another location, usually it is cheaper to pick up a car from an location different to the airport, as airport car hire is nearly always more expensive than city locations, due to the convenience.

Samara says

29th July 2018 at 9:55 am

Great read! I appreciate the in depth breakdown. Just got to London and am going to be following your 2 week itinerary religiously!

29th July 2018 at 12:28 pm

Thanks very much! Have a great trip – do let us know if you have any questions 🙂

Ryan Smith says

3rd May 2018 at 3:03 pm

Thanks a ton for all the useful information about cost of traveling in UK, it saves me so much time Googling for the guide like this. Thank you 🙂

3rd May 2018 at 7:11 pm

My pleasure – have a wonderful trip!

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Business trips are often a welcome change from the daily office routine or working from home. However, they are always associated with costs and subsequent administrative work to settle the corresponding expenses . We provide an overview of what employees need to consider when it comes to travel expenses and how they can best benefit from tax exemption.

What are employee travel expenses?

Travel expenses arise from work-related activities away from the place of residence and the primary place of work. The primary place of work is considered to be the place where the employee works on a regular basis. If companies bear the costs for such business trips by employees, they can be deducted from tax under certain circumstances. If the conditions are met, business trips are exempt from tax. Both the employee and the employer can benefit from this if they provide evidence of the travel costs incurred.

But what kind of costs count as travel expenses? In summary, these are all costs that incur during the trip and serve to ensure its successful completion. This means not only travel costs, but also expenses for food and accommodation to keep up one’s strength. In addition, there are ancillary travel expenses such as parking fees and telephone charges.

Which travel expenses can employees claim?

• public transport
• hotel accommodation
• food, as well as drinks
• congestion and toll charges
• parking fees
• professional telephone calls
• printing costs

If these expenses are incurred during a business trip and for business purposes, they can be exempted from tax. Expenses of a private nature that arise during a business trip, for example from a private visit to a museum, cannot be claimed.

Employee travel expenses reimbursement

If employees want to settle their travel expenses, they have several options. The most profitable one: they forward their travel expenses in full to their employer, submit all the relevant receipts , and the employer transfers the total amount to the employee’s account. The employer can then post the expenses and have them exempted from tax.

In case the employer is reluctant to pay for the employees’ travel expenses, they can reclaim the tax from the government themselves under certain conditions. However, to claim back the tax, HMRC has specified certain rules for employees:

• The travel expenses exclusively incurred for work-related reasons.
• The employee has covered these travel expenses personally.
• The employer does not reimburse the employee for the travel expenses.
• The employer has not provided the employee with a suitable alternative.
• The employee pays taxes.

To benefit from tax exemption on certain expenses, the employee must of course be a taxpayer in the first place. To claim tax exemption for expenses, these must be submitted with supporting documents to HMRC within four years of the end of the tax year in question.

When is the trip a business trip?

To understand under which conditions employees can deduct their travel expenses from tax, it is first necessary to clarify what actually constitutes a business trip – and what does not. For HMRC, there are two permissible types of business travel. Option one: the traveller visits a customer in another city on behalf of the company, for example, to maintain contacts – a time-limited trip that serves a specific purpose. Or the employee travels to a certain location to carry out work: e.g., a construction site or a temporary workplace such as a branch office. 

The daily commute from home to the permanent place of work, however, is explicitly not considered a business trip and cannot be recognised for tax purposes. Furthermore, if you do not travel from home to your usual place of work in the morning, but to another place that is the same or a shorter distance away, this travel cannot be exempt from tax either – only business trips that go beyond the usual distance.

Permanent or temporary workplace compared

The duration of the employee’s activity at a specific place of work is the decisive factor for the question whether a trip to work is tax-deductible or not. Commuting to the permanent place of work – for instance, to the office where the employee usually works and which is mostly specified in the employment contract – is not deductible from tax. However, if the employee must work temporarily somewhere else, for example at a branch office in another city, the journey to this place can be claimed for tax purposes. But this only applies for 24 months: if the employee is required to work there for a longer time, the place is considered to be the new permanent place of work.

Reimbursements with Moss: More freedom for your team

When does work from home turn into a permanent workplace?

Since the onset of the corona pandemic in 2020, work from home has become increasingly popular. More and more employers are allowing or even encouraging their employees to work from home. It is becoming very common to let employees choose their preferred place of work themselves. But what does this mean for employees in terms of tax?

It depends: if the employee only works from home because of a personal decision, every trip to the office is considered commuting – and is thus not tax-deductible. But if the employer decides that the employee must work from home – for example, because there is no office at all anymore – the home office is the new permanent workplace. Every trip to another place of work then becomes a business trip and is deductible from tax.

Which travel expenses can be deducted by employees?

Not all kinds of expenses incurred on a business trip are tax-deductible. Private costs arising from a business trip may not be submitted to HMRC. It is not always that easy to distinguish between private and business-related costs – often the transition is fluent. So: what is deductible and when?

The expenses being deductible are:

• work-related travel not to or from the permanent workplace
• dinner and breakfast when a business trip runs overnight
• accommodation costs during a several-day business trip
• food and drink on a business trip; either the actual costs or the fixed rates set by HMRC
• all travel expenses related to official business, such as: public transport, congestion, toll and parking charges, telephone calls, printing costs, etc.

Non-deductible are:

• the regular way to the permanent workplace
• travel expenses not strictly related to work, e.g., the private visit to a museum, a sightseeing tour, or recharging a travel card
• penalty charges, e.g., tickets for illegal parking or speeding

Costs for food

To keep your strength up on a business trip, daily meals obviously play a crucial role. However, when away from home, it is difficult to cook or prepare food on your own, which is why frequent restaurant visits are customary. But: HMRC does not automatically exempt every restaurant visit. Instead, it has set limits up to which the costs can be deducted each day.

The respective limit depends on the length of the journey.

There is also a cap of £5 for breakfast. For dinner after 8pm the cap is £15.

Business travel mileage

If employees use their own vehicle for business travel, they can, up to certain limits, recover the costs from their employer – who in turn can claim them for tax purposes. Employers can pay the so-called “approved amount” without having to report it to HMRC. These payments are referred to as mileage allowance payments.

The approved amount is calculated by multiplying the employee’s annual mileage by the rate applicable to the vehicle. This rate depends on two factors: the type of vehicle and the total number of miles driven on duty.

Up to the approved amount, the employer can bear the employee’s expenses without having to declare this to HMRC. If, on the other hand, more expenses are covered, these additional costs are considered as employee salary and lead to corresponding tax payments.

If the employer does not pay the mileage allowance payments or not the full amount up to the approved level, the employee can claim the difference for tax exemption – also known as mileage allowance relief. In other words: the employee’s business travel mileage is either paid in full by the employer or the employee can claim tax exemption.

Moss: business travel made easy

Those who have completed a business trip do not want to spend a lot of time afterwards settling their travel expenses, submitting applications to their employer, or having to go through the hassle of declaring them in their tax return.

With Moss, there is a way to help employers to make work easier for their employees: through smart expense and invoice management that makes expense reports obsolete. This is because Moss gives employees the freedom to pay for all work-related expenses independently and responsibly during a business trip using a corporate card . Thus, travellers do not have to lay out the costs for accommodation, food, and transport, but can conveniently pay with a real or with a virtual corporate card – with an individual budget limit precisely tailored to the trip.

All receipts from the trip can be uploaded instantaneously via the web or mobile app – and the tedious expense report becomes completely superfluous. This allows employees to focus entirely on their work from the beginning to the end of the trip. It also saves time for the accounting department.

Reimburse with Moss: Give freedom to your team

Employee travel expenses are costs incurred by an employee on a business trip – for example, for means of transport, meals, or accommodation. The trip must be work-related and the external work assignment must not last longer than 24 months. Otherwise, the travel destination is considered a permanent place of work to which a trip is not tax-deductible.

Employees can either have their travel expenses reimbursed by their employer or submit them to the tax authorities themselves to benefit from a tax exemption. To have the costs reimbursed by the employer, all receipts for the trip must be collected and passed on. If the employee pays the costs personally and is indeed a taxpayer, a tax exemption can be claimed from HMRC.

All costs incurred on a business trip for professional reasons can be deducted – from transport costs to toll and congestion charges or parking fees to meals. This also includes overnight stays, charges for business telephone calls, or printing costs.

If employees use their own vehicle on a business trip, they can either have these costs covered by the employer or have them exempted from tax. The annual amount is calculated depending on the number of miles travelled and the type of vehicle.

For a business trip, you can either claim lump sums for meals or the actual costs – but only up to a certain limit. For a journey of 5 hours or more the limit is £5, for 10 hours or more it is £10 and for 15 hours or more it is £25. Breakfast can be deducted at £5 and dinner after 8pm at £15.

A business trip is defined by HMRC either as a short trip with a clear purpose – such as meeting a client somewhere other than the permanent workplace – or a longer trip to another place of work, such as a branch office. However, the maximum length for such external duty is 24 months.

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Travel and Subsistence Expenses HMRC – All you Need to Know About It

What are travel and subsistence expenses.

Travel and subsistence expenses are incurred when an  employee travels for   business purposes  from one place to another. It includes  the cost of travelling, meals, accommodation, laundry, and other related expenditures .

Since subsistence is considered a cost associated with business-related travel, it falls under the same category.

As an employee, when you are travelling to another location as a part of your job, you are qualified for a certain amount for your travel and subsistence expenses depending on your working rank or designation.

However, before the actual travel begins, employees have to provide a list of expenses that can be possibly incurred during travel. These particular expenses are qualified for reimbursement if you are working for an organisation or a company. 

However, If an employee spends over limits on travel and subsistence expenses, they have to pay that cost from their own pockets. 

Being an employer, you are obliged to pay certain taxes and National Insurance NI  contribution to HMRC on the travelling costs of the employees. That cost includes:

• Travelling costs such as train tickets or flight tickets.
• Reimbursement of travelling expenses. 
• Accommodation costs such as Hotel if the employer needs to stay overnight. 
• Food costs and other subsistence expenses such as parking charges, tolls, congestion charges and business phone calls

A Change in Subsistence Expenses 

As of April 2019, HMRC no longer requires businesses to provide receipts for every cost incurred as part of a business journey. the employee will just need to prove that they’re on a business trip when the expenses were incurred. So, if an employee on a business trip eats three meals, they actually only need to provide proof (a receipt) for one of those meals. 

However, things to keep in mind:

• This doesn’t apply if you use specially-agreed custom allowance rates
• It also doesn’t apply if you follow industry-agreed rates

Unclaimable Travel and Subsistence Expenses

There are certain costs and expenses that are not under the category of travel and subsistence expenses and therefore, you cannot claim those expenses for reimbursement from your organisation. 

Unclaimable expenses include

Daily Travelling Expense – the amount you spent on commuting from your home to the permanent workplace regardless of time and distance. However, If an employee has to travel some extra distance for the purpose of work, the cost spent on the distance can be claimable. 

Personal Vehicles — if the employee has purchased a personal vehicle on loan or through capital allowance , both amount respectively doesn’t come under the travel and subsistence allowance and hence, is unclaimable.

As per HMRC, employees are entitled to tax-free reimbursements for their business travelling. The employee has both options; get paid by the employer tax-free or the employee themself can opt for tax relieves on any shortfall via their tax return. 

Claimable Travel Expenses

Mileage Allowance

HMRC has allowed the usage of personal vehicles for work-related travelling on fixed amounts. These fixed amounts should be approved by the organisation first, and then can proceed with the claim. However, if the employee incurred over the fixed amount, they should pay the exceeding amount on their own. However, if the employer doesn’t pay the Approved and fixed allowance, the employee can claim the full amount spent on the travel. 

VAT on Mileage Allowance: If your organisation is VAT registered and does not use flat rate VAT accounting, it can claim back the VAT on the fuel element of the mileage allowance.#

Workplaces 

Temporary workplace.

the employee can claim the incurred cost spend at the temporary workplace. A temporary workplace is where the employee spends less than 40% of work time or has spent less than 2 years. 

Permanent Workplaces

An employee cannot claim the daily expense of travelling from home to the permanent workplace. But there are some exceptions such as:

• If you frequently travel from one place to another for work-related purposes such as meeting clients, you can claim the expenses spent on your travel. The important thing to keep in mind is that only those expenses would be qualified for a claim if your travel journey is different from usual travel to the workplace. 
• If you have to travel on an urgent basis; if there is an emergency call-out service, the employee can claim the expenses incurred for that emergency travel. 

Extensive Travelling

Frequent travelling could be a part of the job. In such cases, the employee extensively travelling from one place to another have the right to claim the expenses incurred during his travel. However, the employer should make sure that the place where the employee is travelling, should not fall under the permanent workplace category.

Hotel and Subsistence Expenses 

Any expenses incurred by the employee on accommodation, meals and drinks, sundry charges such as laundry etc are obliged for the tax to HMRC. The employee is accountable to HMRC in case there are any inaccurate expenses in the bills. Companies may choose to allow employees to go over the limits, but they’ll have to pay tax every time they do. 

Scale Rates for Subsistence Expenses 

HMRC has set the standard rates for subsistence payments known as “scale rates for subsistence expenses”. The employees, If claim their expenses as per these scale rates, their payments will be free from tax and National Insurance contributions. 

Breakfast Rate

you can claim a tax-free breakfast price of up to £5. However, this tax-free rate is claimable only if you had breakfast before 6 am and leave your current accommodation place before the usual time. 

Meal Rates: 

• you can be paid the price of one meal up to £5 if you are away from your place of stay and workplace for more than 5 hours.  
• Similarly, you can be paid the price of two meals up to £10 if you are away from your place of stay and workplace for more than 10 hours.  
• You can be paid the price of the evening meal up to £25 if you leave your workplace after 8 pm or later than the usual working hours. 

Above mentioned Benchmark scale rates are only qualified for the following conditions:

• the travel must be part of the employee’s job or to a temporary place of work.
• the employee should be absent from their normal place of work or home for more than 5 hours or 10 hours.
• the employee should have incurred a cost on a meal (food and drink) after starting the journey.

Travel and Subsistence Cost as an Employer:

An employer is obliged to pay certain taxes and National Insurance on the reimbursements they made to employees for their Travel and subsistence costs. It includes costs of Travel, reimbursing travel, accommodation, and cost of utilising Public transport. Also,  subsistence costs such as meals, drinks and laundry charges. The employer should take care of all these costs and should accurately report to HMRC. 

In case, your employees are using public transport, its costs include the following:

Seasonal Tickets 

If directly provided to the employees:

As an employer If you provided your employee with a seasonal travelling ticket, you should report the cost of a ticket to HMRC via filing up the cost on the form P11D. ticket cost should also be included in the earnings of the employees and Class 1 National Insurance should be deducted via the employee’s payroll. 

If reimbursement is paid for seasonal tickets: 

If your employees purchase seasonal tickets on their own, as an employer, you have more than one option for reimbursement such as

• you can cover the ticket costs by providing an additional allowance to the employee
• You can increase the salary of the employee, 

However, the cost of the seasonal ticket is counted as earnings, so the employee is responsible to pay taxes and class 1 national insurance through their payroll. 

Loan for seasonal tickets 

If an employee is provided with a loan by the employer for a season ticket, it should be considered as any other common loan and therefore, the employer has to pay national insurance and certain taxes on it. However, there are some interest-free loans such as beneficial loans etc. 

Contribution to Providing Facilities to Employees

As an employer, if you are paying a certain amount for facilitating your employees, you are not obliged to report these amounts to HMRC and neither have to pay any tax or National Insurance contribution on it. For example, if you are contributing to financing a bus route to reduce the travel distance for your employees, you are under no obligation to pay any type of tax. 

The complicated reimbursement process has made it difficult for employers and employees alike. Those who are employed through an intermediary body like an agency or umbrella company might spend quite some time on their business travel expenses while trying to figure out how much is eligible in subsistence costs (and what’s not). 

Consequently, it’s important for small business owners and entrepreneurs to establish processes with specialised accountants so that they can file claims quickly when necessary. However, If you are in search of a Specialised Accountant, Clear House Accountants have a team of expert and professional chartered accountants with years of experience. The team at Clear House Accountants take care of all type of tax obligations, and National Insurance contribution.

Jibran Qureshi

Managing Director

+44 (0)207 117 2639

[email protected]

chacc.co.uk

Jibran Qureshi FCCA  is the Managing Director of Clear House Accountants and has over 13 years of experience in practice across multiple industries. Jibran’s educational background includes a Master’s in Financial Strategy from  Oxford University  and an Executive MBA from  Hult International Business Schoo l. His experience in Financial Strategy, Tax Planning, Operational Consultancy and Performance Reporting guide his cognizant approach to leading Clear House and its clients to the future. This dexterity led him to be Enterprise Nation’s Top 50 Advisors.   Jibran recognised the need to manage the innovative disruptions sustainably early on and shaped Clear House Accountants not just to be compliance specialists but advisors who help build complex ecosystems around cloud accounting software, provide advice on funding support, help manage innovative tax schemes, set up and implement complex strategic plans, and much more.  So, his  clients can thrive, not just survive .

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How employees can claim travel expenses.

Claiming travel expenses can be quite a tricky area, but it’s one that affects a large portion of the working population.

Thousands of workers across the UK have to travel in some form or another for work. There are a number of reasons to travel. Whether they’re travelling to visit a client, heading to a conference or simply running errands for the business.

HMRC offers a tax relief for any costs incurred whilst you are on the road for work-related reasons. These are known as travel expenses.

For one reason or another, lots of taxpayers aren’t making full use of this tax relief. Thousands of workers aren’t claiming back the travel expenses that they are entitled to.

So, what exactly are travel expenses? And how do you claim this rebate?

We’ll take a closer look at everything you need to know about how employees can claim travel expenses.

Here’s What We’ll Cover:

What Are Travel Expenses?

What counts as a travel expense, what counts as business travel, what counts as a workplace, can i claim travel expenses if i work from home, how can i claim for travel expenses, how much can i claim, key takeaways.

As the name suggests, travel expenses are expenses incurred whilst travelling. In this case, they are expenses incurred whilst travelling for business purposes. These expenses include transport costs, meals and vehicle mileage among a number of others.

As with all legitimate business expenses, companies and employees are able to claim tax relief on these costs. This is because if the expenses tick all of the required boxes, business travel is free from tax.

This is why it makes financial sense for both companies and individual employees to keep track and claim tax relief on business trips.

HMRC may provide tax relief on business-related travel expenses, also known as HMRC travel expenses , if the costs fall into the following categories:

• Public transport costs
• Hotel accommodation if you have to stay overnight
• Food and drink
• Parking fees
• Congestion charges and tolls
• Business phone calls
• Printing costs

Essentially, as long as any of the above occurs during business travel then the company should be able to claim relief.

According to HMRC, to be eligible to claim for relief if you have to be travelling for a ‘business purpose’.

Simply put, you can claim for any trip that’s outside your everyday commute to and from work. The journey you take to and from work is classed as regular commuting and is not seen as counting as a business trip by HMRC.

You can, however, claim for journeys that fall under a business category. They also require you to travel to a location that isn’t your place of work or your home.

For example, this may mean you driving to:

• An office location that isn’t your usual base of operations.
• An event, such as a work-related conference or seminar.
• A customer’s workplace for a business meeting.
• A training centre for a required training course.
• A temporary separate office if your usual office is out of action.

There are two types of workplaces that are recognised by HMRC. Those are:

Permanent Workplaces

This is judged by HMRC looking at how much of an employee’s time is spent at a particular workplace and if they are regularly there or not.

There isn’t a particularly large requirement for a place being a permanent workplace. For example, if an employee goes somewhere just once a week this is almost always counted as a permanent workplace.

HMRC defines it as:

“If the task is going to last more than 24 months and the employee is going to spend more than 40% of their time on-site, the workplace where the task is carried out becomes permanent.”

Temporary Workplaces

A workplace is defined as temporary if an employee only goes there for a short-term task. Travel to and from a temporary workplace can be counted as business travel, not normal commuting.

This means that you can claim expenses for business travel if you are travelling between both permanent and temporary workplaces.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen a huge increase in employees working from home.

According to HMRC, if an employee works from home for no other reason than convenience, then any home-to-work journeys count as normal commuting.

However, if an employee works from home because their job requires them to, then that changes. Let’s say that their employer doesn’t provide the facilities on-site, then your home becomes a workplace. This means that travel from your home to other workplaces becomes business travel.

To claim for travel expenses as a form of relief, you will need to have detailed records to back up your claim. These could include:

• Details of Your Journeys: This may be a diary of locations visited and the dates that you made the trip.
• Pay Slips: If your payslips show your business mileage or lodging costs paid by your employer then they can be used as evidence.
• Receipts for Accommodation: You will need to provide the receipts for travel expenses and/or sustenance expenses.

To claim your travel expenses as an actual expense you have to file a claim with HMRC. You have up to four years from the end of the tax year to claim it.

To make a claim, you must:

• Keep a record of your business-related mileage expenses.
• Multiply your yearly mileage by the current AMAP mileage rate and deduct your employer’s mileage allowance, if any.
• If it is under £2,500, you can file your claim on your self-assessment tax return.
• If your claim is over £2,500 then you must file a self-assessment tax return.

In terms of how much you can claim, it depends on a number of factors:

• How much you have spent.
• How much tax you have paid.
• If your employer has reimbursed you.

There may be a scenario where an employer has paid their employee some percentage of their travelling expenses. If that is the case then they may still be eligible to claim for travel expenses if:

• The allowance doesn’t cover the full cost of your expenses.
• The allowance paid by the employer is then taxed.
• The employee uses their own car and the mileage allowance is less than the government-approved rates.

It’s important for both business owners and employees to know how much they can claim and what they can claim for.

The amount of tax relief you can claim can really add up and make a difference to your overall bottom line. It is a form of relief that any business is entitled to so it should be utilised.

To keep track of your business expenses and business miles, try using expense tracking software such as FreshBooks.

Are you looking for more business advice on everything from starting a new business to new business practices?

Then check out the FreshBooks Resource Hub .

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The HMRC 24 month rule: what, why, & how it works

Published on August 18, 2023

Travel between offices and worksites is a normal cost of doing business for some workers. But the cost and inconvenience of leaving your usual surroundings can quickly add up.

To reflect this, HMRC offers tax relief on travel expenses to a non-permanent place of work. But it’s not available in certain circumstances - specifically when the famous “24 month rule” applies.

As with all things tax, the regulations are a little murky and hard to understand. So in this article, we’ll explain the fundamentals of the 24 month rule, when it applies, and what to do if you think it affects you.

Let’s dive in.

The HMRC 24 month rule

The 24 month rule is a specific condition that lets you claim travel expenses for trips between your home and your client’s offices or a “temporary workplace”. The idea behind it is that visiting a client’s workspace - as opposed to your own HQ - requires special travel and can lead to undue costs.

This travel should not be part of your standard commute; HMRC sees travel to a temporary workplace to be a business expense, unlike commuting.

The rule exists to help define what is (and isn’t) a temporary workplace. In order to set clear guidelines and limit abuse of this tax exemption, HMRC created a (relatively) simple test to figure out whether a site is temporary or not.

Put simply: if the conditions of the 24 month rule are met, you’re dealing with a permanent workplace .

So what are those conditions?

How the 24 month rule works

The 24 month rule has two key conditions. In order for the rule to apply - and for a business to NOT be able to claim this travel expense - both of these must be met:

The employee must have spent or be likely to spend more than 40% of their working time at a workplace , AND;

They must attend it or be likely to attend it over a period lasting more than 24 months .

If you meet both of these criteria, you cannot claim tax relief on your travel expenses to and from a workspace. In other words, if you spend 40% of your time in an office or onsite for more than 24 months, this is a permanent place of work .

Important extras to factor in

Here are a few key considerations to keep in mind as you apply for tax relief:

As soon as you become aware that a contract will last longer than 24 months , you must stop claiming relief. So if you know on day one that this will be a two-year contract, you’ll never be able to claim.

24 months is the total calendar period in question, and not the actual amount of time you spend working with a client. So if you work two days a week with them starting January 1, or if you work six months on and then six months off, you’ll reach 24 months on January 1 two years from now. This is the case even if you sign new contracts along the way .

The 40% rule (above) applies, however. So a 15-month break (60% of any two-year period) would be enough to ensure that the 24 month rule doesn’t apply.

If the length of the contract is unclear, you can claim tax relief if it’s assumed that the agreement won’t last 24 months or more.

It’s possible to have more than one permanent workplace. If the 24 month rule is met, the workplace is permanent, even if the rule can also be met in other workplaces.

Tax relief is not available for private travel . That is travel to any place that an employee doesn’t need to be for work purposes.

Examples from HMRC

HMRC itself has published a very helpful (but very long) guide to employee travel . In its section on the 24 month rule, you’ll find good examples to illustrate the rules:

As Chris’ attendance at the temporary workplace in Wigan is expected to last less than 24 months, tax relief is available for the full cost of her travel between home and the temporary workplace.

Duncan has worked for his employer in Sheffield for 10 years and is sent to help out at the employer’s Rotherham branch for 28 months. There is no tax relief for the cost of travel to and from the workplace. This is because he will be spending more than 40% of his working time there and his attendance is known from the outset to be for more than 24 months so the workplace is a permanent workplace. His home to work travel is therefore ordinary commuting for which no relief is available.

Richard has worked for his employer for 3 years. He is sent to perform full-time duties at a workplace for 18 months. After 10 months the posting is extended to 28 months. Tax relief is available for the full cost of travel to and from the workplace during the first 10 months (while his attendance is expected to be for less than 24 months), but not after that (once his attendance is expected to exceed 24 months).

Sarah has worked for her employer for 7 years and is sent to perform full-time duties at a workplace for 28 months. After 10 months the posting is shortened to 18 months. No tax relief is available for the cost of travel to and from the workplace during the first 10 months (while her attendance is expected to exceed 24 months), but tax relief is available for the full cost of travel during the final 8 months (once her attendance is no longer expected to exceed 24 months).

The HMRC guide contains plenty more excellent examples - read chapter 3!

What is a travel expense?

Remember, the 24 month rule prevents employees from receiving tax relief on travel expenses related to temporary workplaces. That means, in order to claim such relief, you need to actually have incurred travel expenses.

We’ve already written a guide to defining reimbursable expenses for employees . But in this case, we’re talking more about expenses that are not reimbursed by an employer.

To help, here’s a breakdown:

Travel expenses in the UK

Travel expenses for employees are tax-deductible when certain conditions are met, for example:

The employee personally pays their own expenses without reimbursement from their employer;

The employer reimburses travel expenses paid for by the employee;

The employer pays the costs directly on the employee’s behalf;

The cost is met by vouchers, e.g. travel tickets, or credit tokens are provided to the employee; or

The travel facilities, such as accommodation, are provided directly to the employee.

Travel expenses include not only the actual cost of the business journey but all other associated costs, such as food and accommodation, toll fees, car parking and vehicle hire charges.

Manage travel expenses the smarter way

Manoeuvring HMRC's 24 month rule, mileage rates, and trivial benefits (as just a few examples) takes practice, patience, and know-how. But keeping track of your team's travel costs and receipts only requires good tools.

Spendesk makes on-the-go expenses simple, and our smart cards and even smarter software are best-in-class. Learn more about how we fix company spending here .

And if you're not quite ready for that, here's a great (free!) guide to help you manage travel expenses on your next work trip, near or far:

More articles dealing with HMRC's rules and regulations:

How HMRC meal allowance rates work

HMRC mileage allowance: How to manage employee car travel

What is a valid proof of purchase for business expenses?

e-Receipts: How to store digital receipts for your business expenses

How HMRC advisory fuel rates work for UK businesses

HMRC Employment Allowance 2023: the rules & how to claim

How to claim HMRC research & development (R&D) tax credits easily

More reads on Product Updates

Audit preparation: how to prepare for your first external audit

ERPs: definition, challenges, and solutions

Payroll management: how payroll accounting works

Get started with spendesk.

Close the books 4x faster , collect over 95% of receipts on time , and get 100% visibility over company spending.

Track mileage automatically

Hmrc travel expenses guidelines, in this article, what qualifies as travel expenses, are reimbursements for travel expenses tax-free, what are per diem rates, travel expenses for employees, travel expenses for the self-employed, travel expenses for employers.

If you are a UK resident who travels for work, your business-travel expenses likely qualify for either reimbursement or tax relief.

HMRC travel expenses guidelines are a somewhat complicated matter, but in this article, we will give you an overview of the things you need to know when you want to claim back money spent on travel that is necessary for work.

The first thing to understand is that not all travel expenses are eligible for tax relief . Notably, HMRC only allows full tax relief on travel expenses that are "wholly and exclusively" for business purposes.

This means that if you mix business and personal travel, you will need to apportion the costs to determine which parts of your trip are eligible for tax relief.

Let's clarify which expenses HMRC recognises as business-travel expenses. These are costs that you incur while travelling for work purposes, such as:

• Train, bus, or airfare
• Car or van rental
• Mileage if you use your own vehicle
• Hotel or other accommodation
• Meals and refreshments (yes, this includes alcohol)
• Parking fees
• Tolls and congestion charges

One of the most common of these travel expenses is mileage. If you use your own vehicle for work purposes, you will need to keep a record of the dates and distances you travel for work, as well as the reason for each trip. The Driversnote automatic mileage log book makes tracking these things as easy as can be.

You can read all about best practices and HMRC rules in our complete guide to mileage in the UK .

Mileage tracking made easy

Trusted by millions of drivers

As a rule of thumb, if the expenses were necessary for the work that was done, and if the reimbursement does not exceed the actual expenditure or per diem rates, the reimbursement will be tax-exempt.

You will need to keep records of your expenses as proof for your employer and/or HMRC.

In an effort to simplify the process of tax deductions and reimbursements, HMRC publishes predetermined rates to cover business travel expenses. These can be used instead of being imbursed for the actual costs you incur.

A benefit to per diem rates is that you will not have to save receipts or invoices, you will simply have to be able to prove that you were on a business trip when the expenses were incurred.

There are per diem rates for both travelling within the UK and to other countries. In the UK, the HMRC per diem rates change depending on the duration and circumstances surrounding the trip. For the rest of the world, HMRC has published a list with the rates for countries and/or cities. 

It is actually possible to negotiate higher rates than the standard ones set by HMRC. But this will require time and legal work.

If you incur travel expenses while doing your job, you have two channels through which you can recuperate your costs.

The most common practice is that your employer will reimburse you.

If you are not reimbursed in full, or at all, by your employer, you then have the option to claim tax relief on the remaining expenses you incurred because of your business travel.

If you are a sole trader your business-related travel expenses are deductible from your taxable profits. What qualifies as travel expenses and the amounts that can be claimed for them follow the same rules as they would for an employee.

As long as you either reimburse your employees’ actual business-travel-related costs, or pay them after the per diem rate (either the standard one or a bespoke one you have negotiated with HMRC), you will not have to report or pay taxes on the reimbursement, as per HMRC’s website .

You will, however, need to keep records of all expenses and benefits you provide to your employees. This includes records of when and why the travel took place, along with receipts where possible.

How to automate your mileage logbook

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Welcome to our guide on mileage claims and reimbursement in the UK. This guide will walk you through the rules that apply to your situation

HMRC has published the revised advisory fuel rates, applicable from 1 March 2024. See how they apply to your situation.

HMRC mileage rates for tax year 2024/2025 are confirmed. See the current allowance rates and how they apply to your business driving.

Choose your Country or region

Simon Calder travel advice: When to renew your passport before visiting Europe

Since Brexit , the rules on passport validity for British visitors to the European Union have tightened.

Gone are the days when you could travel to the EU at any point before your travel document expired; the UK is now a “third country”, with rules to match.

Added confusion has come in the form of the UK’s own HM Passport Office, which has continued to give out incorrect information regarding child passport expiry dates .

These are the key questions and answers based on EU rules.

What’s changed?

While the UK was in the European Union, British passports were valid up to and including their expiry date for travel within the EU. But since the end of the Brexit transition phase, British passport holders are treated as “third country nationals” with stipulations about passport issue and expiry dates – together with limits on the length of stay almost everywhere in Europe.

For the avoidance of doubt, these are not “new EU rules” – they were decided while the UK was in the European Union.

What is required for my passport to be valid?

The requirements for the Schengen Area – comprising most EU countries plus Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and a handful of micro-states – are crisply expressed on the Travel page of the European Union’s Your Europe site : “If you are a non-EU national wishing to visit or travel within the EU, you will need a passport:

• valid for at least three months after the date you intend to leave the EU country you are visiting,
• which was issued within the previous 10 years.”

(All children’s passports meet this latter condition – see below.)

For the avoidance of doubt, there is no problem travelling to Europe with a passport issued for over 10 years, so long as it is under 10 years old on the date of departure to the EU and will have three months remaining on the date of return.

Why the line about ‘issued within the previous 10 years’?

For many years, until September 2018, the UK had a generous policy of allowing credit for “unspent” time when renewing a passport, issuing documents valid for up to 10 years and nine months.

So a passport issued on 31 October 2012 could show an expiry date of 31 July 2023.

This was fine around Europe and the world for decade – until Brexit, whereupon a longstanding rule kicked in. For non-members of the EU hoping to enter the Schengen Area, a passport must have been issued in the past 10 years.

With a passport issued on 31 October 2012, regardless of the expiry date, you’re not allowed to enter the EU post-1 November 2022.

Until September 2018 the government appeared unaware of the problem. Once the issue was identified, the practice of giving up to nine months’ grace ended abruptly.

Are the “issued less than 10 years ago” and “valid for three months” rules combined?

No. There is no need to have a passport issued less than nine years, nine months ago. The two conditions are independent of one another.

The Migration and Home Affairs Department of the European Commission in Brussels told me: “Entry should be allowed to those travelling with passports issued within the previous 10 years at the moment of entry into the Schengen area.

“The condition that the passport must have been issued within the previous 10 years does not extend for the duration of the intended stay. It is enough if this condition is fulfilled at the moment of entry.

“To give a practical example, a non-EU traveller arriving on 1 December 2021 for a 20-days stay in the EU with a passport issued on 2 December 2011 and valid until 2 April 2022 will be allowed entry.”

If I get wrongly turned away, what are my rights?

For flights: you can claim denied boarding compensation (either £220 or £350, depending on the length of the flight) and associated costs – for example, booking another flight on a rival airline, or for wasted car rental and hotel expenses that cannot be reclaimed.

I’ve just read a report saying I need six months remaining for Europe?

Some news outlets, regrettably, continue to publish incorrect information. Ignore it.

Does that 10-year-plus rule apply anywhere else in the world?

No as far as I am aware. The concern around the date of issue is relevant only for travel to the European Union – not for the rest of the world.

For destinations outside EU, the only significant consideration is the expiry date. And for destinations such as Australia, the US and Canada, your passport is valid up to and including this date.

So with that passport expiring on 31 July 2023, you could be in New York until that very day (though you would need to get a daytime flight back to avoid your passport running out en route.

Read the Independent ’s guide to how many months you need left on your passport to travel worldwide

What about children?

Passports for under-16s are typically valid for five years (plus any extra credit). A child’s passport issued for five years and nine months is clearly within the 10-year limit, and there is no possibility of breaching that condition.

(During 2021, the Home Office’s defective passport checker stripped all extra credit, which was both wrong and unhelpful. The online checker has now been switched off.)

But beware of the three-months-remaining-on-exit rule, which children are more likely to fall foul of because of the shorter duration of their passports.

What about this 90/180 day rule?

For trips to the Schengen area (most EU nations plus Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and some small countries) British passport holders can stay a maximum of 90 days in any 180. That’s roughly three months in six.

it is tricky to explain, but I shall do my best. Imagine a calendar that stretches back almost six months from today. What happened more than 180 days ago is irrelevant. What counts is the number of days you were either inside (I) or outside (O) the Schengen Area in the past 180 days.

You can easily keep count on a calendar yourself, either printed or digital.

If “I” hits 90, you must leave that day and stay out for almost three months, to accumulate 90 “Os” in a row. Then you can go back in, for a maximum of 90 days.

During the course of a calendar year, it could work like this (assuming no travel to the EU in the previous six months).

• 1 January: enter the EU and stay for 90 days until the last day of March, when you must leave.
• 1 April: remain outside for 90 days, which takes you to 29 June.
• 30 June: enter the EU and stay for 90 days, until 27 September. Then leave.
• 28 September: remain outside the EU until 26 December.

For longer stays, some countries offer visas that allow British citizens to remain for months on end. If you get one of these, then the time spent in that country does not count towards the “90/180” rule – in other words, you can explore other EU countries with a fresh calendar.

What about non-Schengen EU members?

For British visitors to Ireland , there are no limits on passport validity. Indeed, a passport is not legally mandatory for British travellers to the republic, though some airlines insist on it.

Bulgaria, Cyprus and Romania have identical rules to the Schengen Area: passport issued in the past 10 years, and with three months validity remaining on the day of leaving the country. But time spent in any of these nations does not contribute to the “90/180” day total.

Help! My passport is full of stamps and I have no space left. Will I be turned away?

No, even though Eurostar warns British passport holders : “Check that you have a clear page in your passport as it will need to be stamped with your travel date when you’re travelling to and from the EU.”

The EU’s Practical Handbook for Border Guards is explicit about a “document enabling a third-country national to cross the border [that] is no longer suitable for affixing a stamp, as there are no longer available pages”.

It says: “In such a case, the third-country national should be recommended to apply for a new passport, so that stamps can continue to be affixed there in the future.

“However, as an exception – and particularly in the case of regular cross-border commuters – a separate sheet can be used, to which further stamps can be affixed. The sheet must be given to the third-country national.

“In any case, the lack of empty pages in a passport is not, in itself, a valid and sufficient ground to refuse the entry of a person.”

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• Education, training and skills
• School and academy financial management and assurance
• School procurement

Join the risk protection arrangement (RPA) for schools

How public sector schools can join the risk protection arrangement (RPA), an alternative to commercial insurance, which may save time and money.

Applies to England

This page is for schools that are interested in joining the RPA . There is more information on how to make a claim if you are already a member.

About the RPA

The RPA provides comprehensive risk protection for public sector schools and is an alternative to commercial insurance for the education sector. Under RPA , the UK government covers the losses instead of commercial insurance.

It covers risks normally included in a standard school’s insurance policy and is priced per pupil or placement regardless of any claims.

Schools may join at any time of year. Multi academy trusts ( MATs ) are permitted to join the RPA in a phased manner where some academies in the MAT still have commercial insurance contracts in place.

The cost is reviewed annually to ensure breadth of cover and value for money are balanced. More information about the RPA can be found in this pre-recorded webinar .

Benefits of membership

Risk management is a continuous cycle that helps ensure strategic priorities and improvements plans for schools and trusts are maintained or met. RPA membership brings many benefits that can help protect your school and staff, including:

• financial protection: the RPA will cover the cost of any losses that your school suffers, within the scope and up to the limits of your membership
• peace of mind: knowing that your school is financially protected within the scope and up to the limits of your membership, so you can focus on teaching and learning
• access to support: the RPA offers a range of support services to its members, including risk management advice and training

Join the RPA

If your school is classified as a public sector school, you can join the RPA using your DfE Sign-in account.

Converter academies and church schools

If your school is a converter academy, it will have been signed up to the RPA automatically, but you can opt out if you want to.

If your school is a church school and a church organisation allows the school to occupy their property, under RPA membership rules, its trustees:

• are covered for losses and liabilities they may incur through you occupying their property
• can make claims on your behalf for those losses and liabilities
• can have those claims paid directly to them
• can use the complaints and arbitration procedures with regard to those claims

Create or use a DfE Sign-in account

Follow the steps in this section. Each step also includes a video tutorial.

You can sign in to DfE as a local authority or MAT to manage your RPA membership and that of your schools. This will enable you to see all the schools linked to your organisation.

You can sign these schools up or download their certificates from your account. Trusts can also access their trust level certificate.

Step 1: Create a DfE Sign-in account if you do not have one

Go to create a DfE Sign-in account and enter your name and work email address.

Copy the code we have emailed you and paste it into the box on the verification page.

Create a memorable password.

If you need further help, you can watch a video tutorial .

Step 2: Request access to the RPA

Request access to your organisation and the RPA form.

Ask your approver to approve your access to the RPA and the online collection service.

You can view who your organisation’s approvers are after you’ve added your organisation to your DfE Sign-in account. There’s more information about what approvers need to do in step 3.

Step 3: Give access to the RPA form (for approvers)

Add the RPA to the online collections service.

Go to the ‘manage users’ page and add a role to each user’s account.

Choose ‘add services’ from the right-hand list. If a user already has access to the online collections service, choose this on the user’s page and add role ‘RPA’.

Choose the services, roles and forms you want the user to have access to and save your changes.

Annual costs

The annual costs are:

• £23 per pupil
• £23 per place for special and alternative provision academies, special schools and pupil referral units

This covers the school for the current academic year, 1 September 2023 to 31 August 2024.

The cost will increase to £25 for the next academic year, 1 September 2024 to 31 August 2025.

Local authority maintained schools

• £25 per pupil
• £25 per place for special and alternative provision academies, special schools and pupil referral units

This covers the school for the current financial year, 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025.

Additional cover and buying help

If there’s something you need cover for that’s not included in the RPA , use the Get help buying for schools free and impartial procurement service.

The Get help buying for schools blog is a useful source of information for school buyers who want to:

• get the best value for money
• add extra cover not included in the RPA
• comply with procurement regulations

Independent reports

We have published RPA summary provisioning analyses since 2014. From 2023, the March and August provisioning timeline has been revised to June and December. This allows the department additional time to review findings prior to the new membership year.

If you have any queries, including about opting in or opting out of the RPA , email RPA [email protected] .

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