How to Claim NHS Tax Relief Yourself: P87 vs Self Assessment

No — for the vast majority of NHS staff, claiming uniform, professional fee and mileage tax relief is something you can do yourself, directly with HMRC, at no cost. Rebate companies aren't doing anything you can't do on the same forms yourself; they're filling in a P87 or Self Assessment return on your behalf and taking a cut — commonly 30-40% of whatever HMRC pays out — for doing so. If your situation is straightforward (you're an employee, your total employment expenses claim is under the £2,500 threshold, and you're not already required to file a Self Assessment return for other reasons), there's no HMRC requirement to use a paid service. Where a rebate company genuinely earns its fee is more complex situations — multiple years across changing circumstances, disputed claims, or where you simply don't have the time — but for a standard uniform-plus-subscriptions-plus-mileage claim, most people can do it themselves in well under half an hour.

Form P87 is HMRC's simpler standalone form for employees claiming job expenses, and it's the correct route if your total allowable expenses for the tax year are £2,500 or less and you don't already have to file a Self Assessment return for some other reason. If your expenses go above £2,500 for the year, or you're already required to file Self Assessment (for example because you also do locum, bank agency, or self-employed work, or have other income that triggers a return), you claim the same expenses as a section of that Self Assessment return instead — you don't also submit a separate P87. The underlying tax relief you're entitled to doesn't change depending on the form; it's purely about which HMRC process is the correct one for your circumstances.

Based on HMRC's typical current processing times, a realistic expectation is somewhere in the region of 8 to 12 weeks from when HMRC receives a complete claim with the right evidence attached, though this varies and can be quicker or slower depending on claim complexity, time of year, and whether your claim needs manual review rather than being processed automatically. Postal claims tend to sit at the longer end of that range; a straightforward flat-rate claim submitted online can sometimes move faster. If your claim covers several backdated tax years at once, HMRC will typically check each year individually, which can add time even though they'll usually issue one combined payment once everything is processed. If you haven't heard anything after 12 weeks it's reasonable to check progress through your Personal Tax Account or by contacting HMRC directly.

Yes — HMRC generally allows backdated claims for employment expenses going back 4 tax years plus the current one, provided you were eligible and paid UK Income Tax throughout the years you're claiming for. This is one of the most valuable and most overlooked parts of the process: if you've never claimed before, a single claim covering the current year and the four previous years can be worth substantially more than one year's relief on its own. Beyond that 4-year window, earlier years are generally out of time and can't be claimed. If you're claiming multiple years at once, be clear on the form about exactly which tax years each expense relates to, since HMRC assesses each year on its own facts.

It depends on the type of expense. For flat-rate expenses — such as the standard NHS uniform laundering allowance — HMRC accepts the flat-rate figure without requiring receipts, because the whole point of a flat rate is that it's a pre-agreed reasonable estimate. For other expenses, HMRC introduced stricter evidence requirements for standalone job-expense claims from October 2024 onward, meaning claims for things like actual mileage, professional fees, or other non-flat-rate costs generally need supporting evidence — receipts, invoices, mileage logs, or confirmation from your employer — submitted alongside the claim. Because HMRC's exact evidence requirements and accepted submission channels for different expense types have changed more than once recently and can continue to evolve, always check the current guidance on GOV.UK for the specific expense category you're claiming before you submit, rather than relying on an older article (including this one) for the fine print.

This depends on what you're claiming and can change over time, so it's worth checking GOV.UK at the point you file. As of when this guide was last updated, straightforward flat-rate expense claims (like the uniform laundering allowance) can generally be made online through your Personal Tax Account using your Government Gateway login, without needing to attach evidence. Claims that require supporting evidence — such as actual mileage shortfall claims or professional fee claims — have generally needed to go by post on the paper P87 form together with that evidence, following HMRC's October 2024 process changes, though HMRC has also signalled intentions to widen digital submission over time. Because this is one of the more fluid parts of the process, treat 'online where possible, by post where evidence is required' as the general shape of it, and confirm the specific current channel for your expense type before submitting.

Only for the part your employer didn't cover, and this matters a lot for accuracy. If your employer reimbursed you the full cost of something, you generally can't claim tax relief on it again — that would be a duplicate claim. Where this gets genuinely useful rather than being a trap is mileage: if your employer pays you a mileage rate that's lower than HMRC's approved rate, you can claim tax relief on the shortfall between the two, not the full rate again on top of what you were already paid. Always claim only the gap, and be honest and precise on the form about what's already been reimbursed — see our companion guide on expenses you can't claim for more on this.

It can, and it's generally a good thing rather than something to worry about. Where HMRC accepts an ongoing claim — the uniform flat rate is the clearest example — they will sometimes adjust your tax code so the relief is applied automatically through your pay each year afterwards, rather than you needing to submit a fresh claim annually. This just means slightly less Income Tax is deducted from your payslip going forward, reflecting the relief you're entitled to. It's worth actually reading any tax code notice you receive after a successful claim, both to understand what's changed and to make sure the adjustment looks right for your situation.

The core eligibility test is about your employment status and tax position for the years you're claiming, not whether you're on a permanent contract. Bank and agency NHS staff who are employees (rather than genuinely self-employed contractors), who've paid UK Income Tax in the relevant years, and who've personally incurred an eligible cost can generally claim in the same way as permanent staff. If you also do genuinely self-employed locum work alongside employed NHS shifts, you're likely already filing Self Assessment for that self-employed income, in which case your employment expense claims for the employed part of your work would usually go through that same Self Assessment return rather than a separate P87.

A straightforward, honest employment-expense claim on genuinely eligible costs is a routine, everyday HMRC process used by large numbers of taxpayers every year — it isn't something that inherently draws unwanted scrutiny. The main risk worth taking seriously is accuracy: claiming for something you're not actually entitled to (an expense your employer already reimbursed, ordinary commuting, everyday clothing, or similar) can lead to a claim being rejected, adjusted, or in more serious or repeated cases queried more closely. The straightforward way to avoid any of that is to claim only what you're genuinely eligible for, keep the evidence HMRC currently requires for that expense type, and be accurate about tax years and amounts — which is exactly what following the steps in this guide, and reading our companion guide on what you can't claim, is designed to help with.