Description
On 21st May 2026, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, announced an increase to the approved private mileage reimbursement rate from 45p per mile to 55p per mile for the first 10,000 miles of the tax year. This change has been backdated to 6th April 2026.
Access Expense was initially updated on the evening of 21st May 2026 with a backdated date of 1st April 2026. This was subsequently corrected and the backdated date is 6th April 2026. The updated rate applies to new claims only. Any mileage claims created between 6th April 2026 and 21st May 2026 under the old
45p rate will need to be reviewed and adjusted.
This article explains how to handle affected claims depending on their current status
Why did Access Expense update the rates?
Access Expense maintains HMRC's Approved Mileage Allowance Payment (AMAP) rates as a standard part of the service. Where a vehicle is configured to use HMRC rates, the system will always reflect the current published rate -- this is by design and consistent with how the product has always operated. The update to 55p per mile is a direct reflection of the rate announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
Rachel Reeves, and now published by HMRC.
This is the same process that takes place whenever HMRC publishes updated rates -- for example, company car advisory fuel rates are reviewed and updated every three months, and Access Expense applies these updates automatically for customers using HMRC rate classes.
If you would prefer to apply a fixed custom rate rather than the HMRC default, this option is available within Access Expense and can be configured against your vehicles. See the FAQ below for further guidance.
Solution
Claim status overview
Claim status | Recommended action |
Pending / Draft | Delete the affected mileage expense line(s), re-enter at the new 55p rate and resubmit |
Awaiting Approval | Either the employee unsubmits or the approver rejects the claim. The employee then re-enters at the new 55p rate and resubmits. See below for full steps. |
Approved / Exported | A top-up adjustment import is required. See the Admin steps below. |
Note for approvers: Please reject any mileage claims submitted at the old 45p rate on an HMRC private mileage class so that employees can re-enter them at the correct 55p rate.
Pending / Draft claims
1. Select the affected mileage expense(s)
2. Delete the selected item(s)
3. Re-enter the mileage expense at the new 55p rate
4. Submit the expense
Awaiting Approval claims
There are two routes depending on who takes the first action:
Route A -- Approver rejects:
1. The approver rejects the claim
2. The employee re-enters the mileage expense at the new 55p rate
3. The employee resubmits the claim
Route B -- Employee unsubmits:
1. The employee unsubmits the claim
2. The employee re-enters the mileage expense at the new 55p rate
3. The employee resubmits the claim
Approved / Exported claims -- Admin steps
Step 1: Set up the adjustment expense type
A new non-mileage expense type must be created for the top-up adjustment. This ensures that adjustment claims do not affect employee mileage logs or accrued mileage totals.
1. Navigate to Settings > Expense Types
2. Click Add New Expense Type
3. Enter a name for the expense type -- we recommend "HMRC Mileage Rate Adjustment - April 2026" or similar
4. Set the Entry Type to Variable Quantity and Fixed Rate
5. Set the Rate to 0.10
6. Untick Apply VAT -- VAT will have already been accounted for on the original mileage claims
7. Click Save
Note: Configure this expense type to meet your organisation's requirements. This may include costing information, policy notes or tag configuration. This expense type can be deactivated once all top-up claims have been imported.
Step 2: Enable View All Claims
Ensure the admin performing this task has View All Claims enabled in their user settings. Without this, the export will only return the admin's own claims.
1. Navigate to Settings > Users
2. Search for and select the admin user
3. Scroll down to Settings
4. Enable View All Claims
5. Click Save
Step 3: Export mileage claims
1. Navigate to History > All Claims
2. Click Search to open the filter panel
3. Set Claim Date from 06 Apr 2026
4. Set Status to Approved, Exported
5. Set Expense Type to Personal Car Mileage (or your custom equivalent if the name has been changed)
6. Click Export
Note: The claims export returns employee names but not email addresses. Email addresses are required for the import template. To obtain these, navigate to Settings > Users and export the user list. This will include each employee's email address, first name and last name for cross-referencing.
Step 4: Calculate the top-up per employee
1. Open the claims export in Excel
2. Sort the data by Claimant
3. Total the miles across all affected claims for each employee
4. You will use this total miles figure per employee when populating the import template -- the system will automatically calculate the 10p top-up amount
Example: Sarah has three mileage claims since 6th April 2026 totalling 500 miles at the old 45p rate. Rather than three separate adjustment rows, one import row is created for Sarah for 500 miles. The system calculates her
top-up as 500 x 10p = GBP50.00.
Step 5: Populate the import template
1. Navigate to Import / Export > Import Expenses
2. Click Download Template
3. For each employee, add one row using the following minimum required fields:
Column | Field | Guidance |
A | Expense Type Name | Enter the name of your adjustment expense type exactly as created in Step 1 |
B | Claimant Email Address | Use the user settings export from Step 3 to find each employee's email address |
C | Claim Date | Must be formatted as text. To do this, select the cell, then choose Text under number formatting in Excel before entering the date e.g. 21/05/2026 |
D | Description | Enter a clear description e.g. "HMRC Mileage Rate Adjustment - April 2026" |
H | Quantity | Enter the total miles for that employee as calculated in Step 4 |
R | VAT Receipt Option | Enter the VAT receipt option exactly as it is named in your system. The default option is I do not have a receipt |
Note: Depending on your expense type configuration, additional columns may be required -- for example costing
information or tag fields.
Step 6: Validate and import
1. Navigate to Import / Export > Import Expenses
2. Click Browse and select your completed template file
3. Click Validate Only to check for errors
4. Review the import history to confirm there are no errors -- the entry will show a status of Validate Only
5. If errors are present, correct the template and repeat steps 2-4
6. Once validated successfully, click Browse and re-select the same file
7. Click Import
Important Notes
* This process only applies to mileage claims created between 6th April 2026 and 21st May 2026 under the old 45p rate
* The adjustment expense type must not be configured as a mileage type -- doing so would incorrectly add miles to employee mileage logs and accrued mileage totals
* Employees with claims in a Pending, Draft or Awaiting Approval status should re-enter those claims at the new rate rather than using the top-up process
* If you have any questions or need further assistance, please contact Access Support
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What if I want to keep reimbursing employees at 45p per mile?
A: If you would prefer to apply a fixed custom rate rather than the HMRC default, you will need to create a custom mileage class and assign it to your employees vehicles. Note that this requires vehicles to be recreated rather than simply reassigned. Custom mileage classes are not updated automatically when HMRC publishes new rates, so you will retain full control over the rate applied.
Step 1: Create a custom mileage class
1. Navigate to Settings > Mileage Classes
2. Click New Class
3. Enter a name and configure the rate(s) according to your organisation requirements
4. Set the Group to HMRC Private (or whichever group your current HMRC private rates are assigned to, if this has been reconfigured)
5. Click Save
Step 2: Mark existing vehicles as no longer in use
Either:
* Employees go to My Settings, edit their vehicle(s) and tick No Longer In Use (if Allow User Vehicle Entry is enabled in General Settings), or
* An admin goes to Settings > Users, selects the user, finds the vehicle, edits it and ticks No Longer In Use
Step 3: Recreate vehicles against the custom class
Either:
* Employees add a new vehicle in My Settings (if Allow User Vehicle Entry is enabled in General Settings), or
* An admin adds vehicles manually via Settings > Users, or in bulk via the user import