Police, Fire and Prison Officers: The Flat Rate Uniform Allowances
Three of the most obviously uniformed jobs in the country, and three different figures. HMRC's flat rate expenses table gives police officers up to and including the rank of chief inspector £140 a year, uniformed firefighters and fire officers £80, and uniformed prison officers £80. None of it is applied automatically. If you have never made a claim, the allowance is not in your tax code and the money has been sitting with HMRC, in some cases for years.
The rates, from HMRC's flat rate expenses table: police officers, ranks up to and including chief inspector, £140. Fire service, uniformed firefighters and fire officers, £80. Prisons, uniformed prison officers, £80. Source: GOV.UK flat rate expenses and HMRC's Employment Income Manual at EIM32712.
The Allowance Is Not the Refund
This trips people up constantly. The flat rate is a deduction from your taxable income, not a payment. What arrives in your pocket is the allowance multiplied by the rate of tax you pay.
| Allowance | Basic rate 20% | Higher rate 40% | Scottish higher rate 42% |
|---|---|---|---|
| £140 (police) | £28 a year | £56 a year | £58.80 a year |
| £80 (fire and prisons) | £16 a year | £32 a year | £33.60 a year |
Modest annually, which is exactly why so many people never bother. The number that makes it worth ten minutes is the backdated one. You can claim the current tax year plus the four before it, so a police officer on the basic rate claiming for the first time is looking at £700 of allowance and £140 of cash, arriving as a lump sum for the closed years plus a lower tax bill going forward.
What You Have to Be Able to Say
Three conditions, and all three have to hold.
- You wear a recognisable uniform. Not a dress code, a uniform. Police, fire and prison service kit is about as clear-cut as this test ever gets.
- You pay to keep it going yourself. The flat rate covers cleaning, repairing and replacing. If your force or service launders your kit, runs a contract cleaning arrangement, or pays you a laundry allowance, you are not out of pocket and there is nothing to claim.
- You pay income tax. The relief works by reducing taxable income, so if your earnings are under the £12,570 personal allowance it produces nothing.
One thing you cannot claim under any of these headings is the initial cost of buying the clothing. GOV.UK is explicit that the relief covers upkeep and replacement, not the first purchase. In these three services that rarely matters, because the employer issues the kit in the first place.
Ranks Above Chief Inspector
The police entry in HMRC's table stops at chief inspector. Superintendents and above are not covered by that £140 figure. If you are above that rank, wear a uniform, and maintain it at your own expense, the position falls back on the general rule: where an occupation has no agreed figure, GOV.UK gives a standard flat rate of £60. It is worth putting the claim in on that basis rather than assuming nothing is available.
Professional Subscriptions Are a Separate Claim
The uniform flat rate is not the only deduction available to uniformed public service staff. Subscriptions to a professional body are deductible if the body appears on HMRC's approved list, which HMRC publishes as List 3. It is worth checking whether the organisation you pay is on it, because the two claims are made in the same place at the same time and people routinely claim one and forget the other.
Unlike the flat rate, a subscription claim is for the actual amount you paid, so keep the receipt or the annual statement.
How to Make the Claim
There are three routes, and every one of them is free.
- Online. Sign in to your Personal Tax Account on GOV.UK with your Government Gateway details and use the service for claiming tax relief on employment expenses. You will need your National Insurance number, your employer's name and PAYE reference (it is on your payslip or P60), and the tax years you are claiming for.
- By post. Download form P87, fill in your details and the flat rate you are claiming, and send it to the address on the form. Slower, but it works if you cannot get through the Government Gateway identity checks.
- Self Assessment. If you already file a return, put it there instead. You must use Self Assessment rather than a P87 if your total expenses claim for the year comes to more than £2,500.
You do not need receipts for a flat rate claim. HMRC tightened the evidence rules for employment expense claims from 14 October 2024, and most claims now need supporting documents. Flat rate expenses for uniforms, clothing and tools are specifically exempt from that requirement. You still have to be genuinely eligible, and HMRC checks claims after the event.
The Deadlines, Year by Year
Each tax year has its own four-year window, which closes on 5 April. Claiming during 2026/27, these are the years still open.
| Tax year | Claim by |
|---|---|
| 2026/27 (current) | 5 April 2031 |
| 2025/26 | 5 April 2030 |
| 2024/25 | 5 April 2029 |
| 2023/24 | 5 April 2028 |
| 2022/23 | 5 April 2027 |
2021/22 closed on 5 April 2026 and cannot be reopened. If you are reading this in the run-up to April, 2022/23 is the one with a deadline on it.
What Happens Next
For the closed years, HMRC works out the overpaid tax and repays it, usually by bank transfer or cheque. For the current year and future years, they change your tax code so that slightly less tax comes off each month. A police officer on the standard code would move from 1257L to 1271L, reflecting £12,710 of tax-free pay instead of £12,570.
Once the allowance is in your code it stays there. You do not have to claim again each year, which is the reason it is worth doing even for £16 a year.
Scottish Taxpayers
If your main home is in Scotland, relief is given at Scottish rates. For most officers that means 21% rather than 20% on the intermediate rate band, so £140 is worth £29.40 rather than £28. For anyone earning above £43,662 it is worth 42%, which is £58.80 on the police rate. Small differences, but they run the right way for once.
You can check which rates apply by looking at your tax code. An S at the front means HMRC has you down as a Scottish taxpayer.