Is Amazon Flex Worth It in the UK? Real Pay After Costs (2026)

What Amazon says you can earn

Amazon’s UK Flex site says “most drivers earn up to £14–£18 per hour”. Its footnotes explain how that figure is built: it is based on delivering a set number of packages within the block’s estimated length, in a standard motorised vehicle, and real hourly earnings vary with how long deliveries actually take. Every offer in the app shows the delivery type, block length and estimated pay before you accept it.

So the advertised rate is the block pay divided by the block length. It does not take off any costs, and it does not count time outside the block.

Four drivers, the same four blocks

Each driver below takes four blocks a week, each advertised as 4 hours for £60, which is £15.00 an hour in the app. They drive petrol cars at 45 mpg with fuel at 174p a litre. What changes is the time they really spend, the miles they drive and what they pay for insurance. These are our own illustrative examples, worked out with the same engine as our Amazon Flex calculator.

Driver	Hours worked	Costs a week	Keeps per hour
Lives near the station, pay-as-you-go cover 15 minutes of extra time and 30 miles per block; insurance at about £1 an hour of block time	17	£49.69	£11.19
Typical: our calculator example 30 minutes of extra time and 40 miles per block; annual cover of about £1,300	18	£68.93	£9.50
Finishes each block in 3 hours Done in 3 of the 4 hours, plus 15 minutes; 35 miles per block	13	£63.81	£13.55
Long rural route An hour of extra time and 80 miles per block	20	£109.85	£6.51

The same £240 a week is worth anything from £6.51 to £13.55 an hour. Only the driver who finishes early clears the National Living Wage. None of these drivers pays tax, because over 48 weeks HMRC’s mileage deduction keeps their profit under the £12,570 personal allowance. If you have a job as well, your Flex profit is taxed from the first pound.

Insurance is the cost most people miss

To deliver by car you need hire and reward insurance on top of standard social, domestic and pleasure cover. Amazon’s requirements page lists both, and names Inshur (hourly, monthly or annual cover) and Zego (monthly or annual) as partners. Zego says Amazon stopped providing its own “Additional Cover” in 2022, so you arrange and pay for this yourself.

Prices vary a lot with your age, car, postcode and claims history:

Annual hire and reward policies are commonly quoted at around £1,100 to £2,500 a year, which is £21 to £48 a week.
Pay-as-you-go cover is charged only for the time you are delivering. Advertised starting prices range from under £1 an hour to Zego’s “from £3.29 per hour”, which Zego says 10% of its customers paid or less.

To choose between them, divide your annual quote by your hourly quote. That gives the number of delivery hours a year at which the annual policy becomes cheaper. For example, a £1,500 annual quote against £1.50 an hour breaks even at 1,000 hours a year, or about 21 hours a week over 48 weeks. Below that, pay-as-you-go usually costs less.

Miles and time outside the block

The block clock starts at the delivery station. Driving there, queuing to load and driving home are unpaid. In our typical example, fuel and wear cost about 26p a mile, so a station 10 miles from home adds 20 unpaid miles, about £5.20, and perhaps 40 minutes to every block. Over four blocks a week that is about £20.80 and more than two and a half hours.

The block pay is fixed whether you finish early or late. Amazon’s footnote says it aims to set realistic package numbers, but routes differ: a block of flats in town and a string of rural farmhouses can be offered for the same money.

Block types and what you need

Delivery type	Block length	Collect from	Vehicle
Amazon standard delivery (parcels)	Up to 5 hours	Amazon delivery station	Car, van or enclosed pickup
Amazon grocery delivery	Up to 2 hours	Amazon Fresh delivery station	Car, van or enclosed pickup
Amazon Now (daily essentials)	Up to 4 hours	Amazon Now pickup location	E-bike only

For car deliveries Amazon asks for a mid-size or larger car with five or more seats; vans and enclosed-bed pickup trucks are also accepted. You must be 18 or over, have the right to work in the UK, a full UK driving licence, a smartphone and the insurance above. Blocks can appear up to seven days in advance, and you can also pick one up on the day.

What about Amazon Now by e-bike?

Amazon Now blocks are for e-bikes that meet the UK’s electrically assisted pedal cycle (EAPC) rules, with an insulated bag or box of at least 55 × 26 × 36 cm. You do not need a driving licence. Instead of hire and reward motor cover, Amazon asks for public liability and personal accident insurance. Amazon’s job adverts for these blocks quote £13 to £15 an hour.

Running costs on an e-bike are a few pence a mile, against about 26p for a petrol car, and public liability and personal accident cover is a different kind of policy from hire and reward motor insurance, so get a quote for both before you compare. If Amazon Now runs in your area, it can leave you with more per hour than car blocks even though the headline rate is lower.

Who Amazon Flex suits

It can suit you if you live close to a delivery station, already pay for hire and reward cover for other delivery work, want a few hours of flexible work a week, or work in an area where routes are dense and blocks often finish early.
It probably does not suit you if you would need an annual policy just for a few blocks a week, your nearest station is a long drive, your routes are rural, or you need a steady wage. Amazon does not guarantee you blocks.

Put your own numbers into the Amazon Flex pay calculator before you sign up. The two that matter most are your insurance quote and the distance to the station.

Tax

Flex drivers are self-employed, and Amazon pays without taking off tax. Once your trading income is over £1,000 in a tax year, you register for Self Assessment. For 2026/27 you can deduct 55p a mile for your first 10,000 business miles instead of fuel and running costs, so keep a mileage log from your first block.

Questions people ask

Is Amazon Flex worth it in the UK?

It depends on insurance and distance. In our examples, the same four £60 blocks a week are worth £6.51 to £13.55 an hour after costs, with a typical driver keeping about £9.50.

Does Amazon provide insurance for Flex drivers in the UK?

No. Amazon requires car drivers to have hire and reward insurance plus social, domestic and pleasure cover, and names Inshur and Zego as partners. Zego says Amazon stopped its own Additional Cover in 2022.

How much is Amazon Flex insurance?

Annual hire and reward policies are commonly around £1,100 to £2,500 a year. Pay-as-you-go cover is charged by the hour while you deliver, from under £1 an hour with some providers.

What car do I need for Amazon Flex?

Amazon asks for a mid-size or larger car with five or more seats. Vans and enclosed-bed pickup trucks are also accepted. Amazon Now blocks are for e-bikes only.

Do you get paid if you finish an Amazon Flex block early?

Yes. Block pay is fixed when you accept it, so finishing early raises your hourly rate. Running over usually does not add pay.

Sources

Written and checked by Owais Farooq. Last updated 1 November 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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