Healthcare assistants are expressly listed in HMRC's national healthcare flat-rate table. The main opportunity is uniform laundry, but business mileage and other qualifying employment expenses can also be relevant.
You cannot claim an expense that your employer has already fully paid, provided or reimbursed.
What tax relief can healthcare assistants claim?
Uniform laundry
Healthcare assistants can potentially use HMRC's £125 annual flat-rate expense where the uniform and employee-funded laundry conditions are met.
Prescribed shoes and tights
Additional small agreed amounts can apply where everyone is required to wear the same prescribed colour or style.
Business mileage
Qualifying patient visits and other employment journeys in your own vehicle can potentially support Mileage Allowance Relief.
Business parking
Necessary parking attached to a qualifying business journey can potentially qualify where you personally meet the cost.
Normal workplace commute
Travel between home and a permanent hospital, clinic, care home or other permanent workplace is normally ordinary commuting.
Required PPE
HMRC says required PPE should be provided or reimbursed by the employer, not claimed as an employee tax expense.
How much is the healthcare assistant uniform allowance?
HMRC's current national flat-rate expense table lists healthcare assistants at £125 per tax year.
Annual flat-rate deduction for qualifying healthcare assistants who personally bear the cost of laundering their required uniform.
Where the required prescribed-style conditions are satisfied.
Where the required prescribed colour or style conditions are met.
The £125 is an allowable employment expense deduction. At an illustrative 20% Income Tax rate, a £125 deduction would produce £25 of Income Tax relief.
Who can use the healthcare flat rate?
HMRC's current table covers healthcare assistants working for organisations including the NHS, private hospitals, local authorities and independent care providers.
For the healthcare uniform deduction, you must normally:
- Be required to wear a qualifying uniform as part of your duties.
- Personally bear the cost of laundering that uniform.
- Not already have the full expense met by your employer.
Free laundry facilities can remove the claim
HMRC says the healthcare-worker rules follow the same principle as the nurse laundry rules. Where suitable free employer laundering facilities are provided, a deduction is not normally available simply because you choose to wash the uniform yourself.
See our Uniform Tax Relief Guide .
Can healthcare assistants claim shoes and tights?
Yes, in qualifying circumstances.
HMRC's public flat-rate table lists healthcare assistants alongside nurses and other healthcare workers for the additional:
- £12 annual shoe allowance.
- £6 annual tights or stockings allowance.
The relevant prescribed-colour or prescribed-style requirement must be satisfied. Comfortable black shoes bought by personal choice do not automatically create a tax deduction.
Can healthcare assistants claim travel between patients?
Potentially, yes.
HMRC allows relief for necessary travel between workplaces in the same employment. This can be especially relevant to community healthcare assistants or staff required to visit several patients or care locations.
Necessary travel between patient locations while carrying out the same employment can potentially qualify as business travel.
Necessary travel from your normal workplace to another location to perform your duties can potentially qualify.
Normal travel between home and your permanent workplace is ordinary commuting and does not usually qualify.
A care home that is your regular permanent workplace is normally treated in the same way as any other permanent workplace.
This depends on your actual working pattern, whether you have a permanent workplace and whether you genuinely hold a travelling appointment.
Travel can potentially qualify where the location genuinely satisfies HMRC's temporary-workplace conditions.
HMRC's general rule is that home-to-normal-workplace travel is commuting. Travel beginning at home can have different treatment for a genuine travelling appointment, but that depends on the facts of the job.
See our Temporary Workplace Rules Guide .
What mileage tax relief can healthcare assistants claim?
Where you use your own vehicle for qualifying employment business travel, HMRC's approved mileage rates can apply.
First 10,000 qualifying business miles in 2026/27.
Each qualifying business mile over 10,000.
Approved qualifying business mileage rate.
Approved qualifying business mileage rate.
If your employer pays less than the HMRC approved amount for qualifying mileage in your own vehicle, Mileage Allowance Relief can potentially apply to the qualifying shortfall.
Employer mileage below 55p does not mean HMRC pays the difference in cash
Mileage Allowance Relief is generally a tax deduction on the qualifying shortfall between HMRC's approved amount and the mileage allowance already received from your employer.
HMRC's own-vehicle mileage rate already covers normal vehicle ownership and running costs. You cannot normally add petrol, electricity, MOT, vehicle tax or repairs to the same mileage claim.
See our PAYE Mileage Tax Relief Guide .
Can healthcare assistants claim parking?
Potentially, where the parking cost arises as part of a qualifying employment business journey and you personally bear the cost.
Patient-visit parking
Necessary parking associated with a qualifying patient visit can potentially be claimed where it is not reimbursed.
Business tolls
Tolls and congestion charges attached to qualifying employment travel can potentially qualify separately from mileage.
Permanent workplace parking
Personally paying to park at or near your normal permanent workplace does not normally create an employee tax deduction.
Parking fines
Parking penalties should not be included as though they were ordinary qualifying business parking charges.
See our Parking & Travel Expenses Guide .
Can healthcare assistants claim PPE tax relief?
No general employee tax deduction is available for required PPE.
Required PPE should normally be supplied by the employer
HMRC says that where your job requires PPE, your employer should either provide it free of charge or ask you to buy it and reimburse you. You cannot substitute an employee tax-relief claim for that obligation.
Healthcare examples can include required gloves, masks, aprons or other protective items used for infection control and patient care.
See our PPE Tax Relief Guide .
Can healthcare assistants claim ordinary work clothes?
No. Ordinary clothing does not become deductible merely because it is worn only at work or because the employer requires a particular colour.
HMRC also does not allow the initial cost of buying ordinary work clothing. The separate healthcare uniform, shoe and tights rules only apply where their specific conditions are satisfied.
Can healthcare assistants claim professional fees?
There is no universal professional registration deduction that applies to every healthcare assistant simply because of the job title.
If you personally pay an annual subscription to an HMRC-approved professional organisation and membership is relevant to your employment, a deduction can potentially apply under the normal professional-fee rules.
Do not assume a course fee, training provider, union or professional membership qualifies. HMRC maintains a specific approved organisations list and some entries have restrictions.
See our Professional Fees Tax Relief Guide .
Can healthcare assistants claim working-from-home costs?
For the 2026/27 tax year, employees cannot claim an Income Tax deduction for unreimbursed additional household costs of working from home.
Earlier tax years had different rules and may still fall within the claim window where the old eligibility conditions were satisfied.
Healthcare assistant tax relief example
Uniform, shoes and tights
Assume a healthcare assistant satisfies the conditions for all three HMRC agreed amounts and personally bears the qualifying costs.
At an illustrative 20% Income Tax rate, a £143 allowable deduction would represent £28.60 of Income Tax relief.
This example assumes every condition is met. It is not an automatic £143 refund.
What records should healthcare assistants keep?
- Employer uniform or dress-code information.
- Evidence of whether free laundry facilities are available.
- Mileage logs showing dates and journey purpose.
- Start and destination postcodes for mileage claims.
- Employer mileage reimbursement records.
- Parking or public-transport receipts for actual travel claims.
- Professional subscription evidence where relevant.
- Receipts where actual rather than flat-rate expenses are claimed.
Flat-rate uniform claims do not need individual laundry receipts
HMRC does not require receipts for an agreed flat-rate expense. Actual expense claims, travel costs and professional fees require appropriate supporting evidence.
How does a healthcare assistant claim tax relief?
Check uniform eligibility
Confirm that you wear the required uniform and bear the laundry cost.
Review travel
Separate qualifying patient travel from ordinary commuting.
Remove reimbursements
Do not claim costs already fully met by your employer.
Submit correctly
Use HMRC's employee-expense process or Self Assessment where applicable.
HMRC currently allows postal P87 claims where total employment expenses for a tax year are £2,500 or less and the claim is within four years of the end of the relevant tax year. Larger claims generally require Self Assessment.
Reviewed & Updated
18 August 2026
2026/27
PAYE profession guide
HMRC / GOV.UK
Common Healthcare Assistant Tax Relief Questions
How much is the healthcare assistant uniform allowance?
HMRC's current national healthcare flat-rate table lists healthcare assistants at £125 per tax year where the qualifying uniform and employee-funded laundry conditions are met.
Do healthcare assistants get £125 back?
No. £125 is the deductible employment expense, not the refund. Your actual tax saving depends on your Income Tax position.
Can healthcare assistants claim shoes?
HMRC's healthcare table includes a £12 amount for shoes where the specified prescribed-style conditions are satisfied.
Can healthcare assistants claim tights?
HMRC's table includes £6 for qualifying stockings or tights where the relevant prescribed colour or style requirement applies.
Can healthcare assistants claim mileage?
Qualifying employment business journeys made in your own vehicle can potentially support Mileage Allowance Relief after employer mileage payments are taken into account.
What is the 2026/27 mileage rate?
HMRC's approved car and van rate is 55p for the first 10,000 qualifying business miles and 25p thereafter.
Can I claim home-to-hospital mileage?
Normally not where the hospital is your permanent workplace. That journey is generally ordinary commuting.
Can I claim mileage between patients?
Necessary travel between patient locations during the same employment can potentially qualify as business travel.
Can healthcare assistants claim PPE?
Required PPE should normally be provided or reimbursed by the employer. HMRC says employees cannot claim tax relief for PPE in place of this.
What if my employer provides free laundry?
A healthcare uniform laundry deduction is not normally available where suitable free employer laundry facilities are provided.
Official HMRC Sources
This guide is based on current HMRC healthcare flat-rate, uniform, mileage, travel and employee-expense guidance.
Work as a healthcare assistant and pay job expenses yourself?
Go Tax Refunds can help review your uniform allowance, qualifying business mileage and other PAYE employment expenses to identify whether additional tax relief may apply.
