PennyPerHour

Deliveroo earnings calculator: your real pay per hour

A rider doing 60 orders a week at an average of £4.20, plus £10 in tips, over 25 logged-in hours on an e-bike, keeps about £10.06 an hour. That is £2.65 below the National Living Wage, even though Deliveroo’s pay floor for e-bikes is £12.99. The reason is waiting time. Try your own week below.

Your Deliveroo week

Your weekly fee statement in the rider app shows orders, fees and tips.

Total fees divided by orders, before tips.
Include time waiting for orders.
Including riding back towards restaurants.
Your vehicle and costs

Our starting figures are estimates. Change them to what you really pay.

UK petrol averaged about 174p in October 2026.
Town driving with stops is usually worse than the official figure.
Tyres, brakes, chains, servicing and repairs.
Riders on bikes and e-bikes often pay nothing extra. Scooters and cars need cover for food delivery.
Phone data, bags, parking, cleaning.
Tax
Before tax. A job uses your tax-free allowance first.
You keep £10.06 an hourDetails

What you really earn

Your weekE-bike, 25 hours, 150 miles
Earnings, tips and bonuses£262.00
Fuel or charging−£1.50
Wear, tyres and servicing−£6.00
Phone, data and other−£3.00
After costs£251.50
Income tax and National Insurance£0.00
You keep this week£251.50
You keep per hour£10.06£10.48 an hour before costs. £10.06 after costs, before tax.

After costs you make £2.65 an hour less than the National Living Wage (£12.71, before tax).

How the tax estimate works

Over 48 working weeks you would earn £12,576. The lowest-tax option for you is the £1,000 trading allowance (a deduction of £1,000), which leaves a taxable profit of £11,576. That gives about £0 income tax and £0 Class 4 National Insurance a year. Rates are for 2026/27 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

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How Deliveroo works out your fee

Deliveroo pays a fee for each completed order. You see the full fee on the offer screen before you accept, and you can reject any order without it affecting future offers. Deliveroo says each fee is based mainly on its estimate of the time and road distance the order will take. There is no fixed pick-up, drop-off or per-mile rate.

According to Deliveroo, the fee also depends on:

  • where you are when the offer arrives, and where the pick-ups and drop-offs are
  • the time of day and day of the week (fees are higher at busy times)
  • how busy the restaurant or shop is, and whether a boost is running
  • your vehicle, because fees for cars and scooters include their higher running costs

You are only paid for orders you complete. Fees are paid weekly on a Tuesday, or sooner through cash out for a 50p fee. You keep 100% of your tips.

The Deliveroo pay floor for 2026/27

Deliveroo and the GMB union agree a pay floor each year. From 1 April 2026 the minimum fee per hour, including vehicle costs, is:

VehiclePay floor per hourMinimum for a 20-minute order
Car£17.18£5.73
Scooter£14.40£4.80
E-bike£12.99£4.33
Bicycle£12.88£4.29

The pay floor only covers the time Deliveroo estimates an order will take, from accepting it to marking it delivered. Time spent logged in and waiting for the next offer is not covered. That is why your pay per logged-in hour can be well below the floor.

Worked example: an e-bike rider

The rider completes 60 orders in 25 logged-in hours, about 2.4 orders an hour, at an average fee of £4.20 plus £10 of tips.

Per weekAmount
Fees, tips and boosts£262.00
Charging, 150 miles−£1.50
Wear and servicing−£6.00
Phone and other costs−£3.00
Tax and National Insurance to set aside£0.00
You keep£251.50

That is £10.06 an hour. Costs are small on an e-bike, so the real problem is orders per hour. Each order is worth about £4.20 here, so going from 2.4 to 3 orders an hour would add around £2.52 an hour.

No tax is due in this example. Over 48 weeks the rider earns £12,576. HMRC’s mileage rate is not available for bicycles, so the calculator uses the £1,000 trading allowance, which is bigger than the rider’s real costs. That leaves a profit of £11,576, under the £12,570 personal allowance. Add a part-time job and that changes quickly.

Bike, e-bike, scooter or car?

Higher pay floors for scooters and cars exist because they cost more to run, not because they pay you more. A car on a £17.18 floor that spends about 26p a mile on fuel and wear, plus insurance, can end up keeping less per hour than an e-bike on £12.99, especially in a city where short trips are the norm. Switch the vehicle in the calculator to compare.

Ways to raise your hourly rate

  • Work the busy hours. Deliveroo says fees are higher at busier times, and you wait less between orders.
  • Judge each offer by time, not fee. A £4 order that takes 15 minutes is worth £16 an hour; a £6 order that takes 35 minutes is worth about £10.
  • Track your logged-in hours. They are the hours that decide your real rate.

Questions people ask

How much does Deliveroo pay per order?

There is no fixed rate. Deliveroo bases each fee mainly on the estimated time and road distance, and shows it before you accept. Riders commonly see around £3 to £6 an order, more at busy times.

What is the Deliveroo pay floor for 2026/27?

From 1 April 2026, the GMB pay floor is £17.18 an hour for cars, £14.40 for scooters, £12.99 for e-bikes and £12.88 for bicycles, including vehicle costs, for the estimated time spent on orders.

Does the pay floor cover waiting time?

No. It covers the estimated time from accepting an order to marking it delivered. Time logged in between orders is not included.

When does Deliveroo pay riders?

Weekly on a Tuesday. You can cash out sooner for a 50p fee. Tips are paid at the same time and you keep all of them.

Do Deliveroo riders pay tax?

Yes. Riders are self-employed and register for Self Assessment once trading income is over £1,000 a year. Tax is on profit after costs or the £1,000 trading allowance.

Sources

Written and checked by Owais Farooq. Last updated 30 October 2026.

Tax uses 2026/27 rates for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. See how we calculate for every rate, assumption and source.

This is an estimate, not tax advice. Found a mistake? Tell us and we will fix it.

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