Deliveroo recruits riders across the UK, including London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Cardiff and Glasgow. If you are 18 or over, have the right to work here as self-employed, and have a bicycle, scooter or car, you can apply directly through the rider site.
What does a Deliveroo rider do?
Deliveroo riders collect orders from restaurants and shops and deliver them to customers nearby, usually within a mile or three. Most drops take somewhere between 15 and 30 minutes from pick-up to hand-over.
The work is self-employed, with no guaranteed hours, no set shift pattern and no employer benefits. You log into the app when you want to work, log off when you have had enough, and do not have to accept every order you are offered.
Deliveroo rider requirements in the UK
Deliveroo publishes its requirements on the rider support site. The list is short, and for anyone on a motorised vehicle the insurance requirement is the one that stops most applications. You need:
- To be 18 or over. Deliveroo applies this with no exceptions, a higher bar than the law sets for delivery work generally.
- Proof of your right to work in the UK as self-employed, which Deliveroo verifies during sign-up through a third-party identity check.
- No unspent criminal convictions, a condition Deliveroo states outright.
- A smartphone on iOS 17.0 or Android 8 and above, with NFC and a working camera, plus a data plan, since the app runs throughout your shift.
- A UK bank account, which Deliveroo pays into weekly.
- Insurance appropriate to your vehicle.
The insurance you need to ride for Deliveroo
If you ride a bicycle, you need no specialist policy to deliver food. Public liability cover is worth having rather than required, and runs roughly £50 to £200 a year.
If you drive a car or a motorised scooter, Deliveroo requires two policies and wants proof before you start riding:
- Social, domestic and pleasure cover, the standard motor insurance for your own everyday use of the vehicle.
- Hire and reward cover, sometimes sold as fast food delivery insurance or carriage of goods for hire and reward, which covers you for carrying goods to a third party for payment.
New riders most often trip up on the fact that a standard personal motor policy does not cover commercial delivery work, and that delivering on one can invalidate it. Hire and reward is a second policy on top.
Expect roughly £400 to £900 a year for a moped or scooter and £800 to £1,500 a year for a car on food delivery work. Pay-as-you-go policies, which charge only for the hours you are logged in, are widely used by part-time riders, and some are integrated with the Deliveroo app itself. Our insurance cost guide breaks the bands down by vehicle.
Deliveroo also gives riders its own free insurance for certain accident and third-party situations while working. It does not replace hire and reward and does not cover you driving to or from a zone, so read what it includes before you count on it.
Which vehicles can you use?
Deliveroo accepts four kinds of vehicle, and the one you choose influences which zone you are given: centre zones tend to go to cyclists and scooter riders, while car drivers are more often given wider suburban areas.
A bicycle is the lowest barrier to entry, with no specialist insurance, no licence and no vehicle costs beyond maintenance. It suits compact city-centre zones, where cyclists often match scooter riders on drops per hour because they filter through traffic and park anywhere. E-bikes count in this category too and widen your radius. Cargo bicycles are accepted as a category of their own and are useful on grocery and larger orders.
A scooter or motorcycle is faster across the longer distances common in suburban zones, and needs hire and reward cover. For scooters Deliveroo accepts a provisional licence plus CBT, so you can start without a full motorcycle licence.
A car needs a full category B licence and hire and reward cover. It is more comfortable over distance and in bad weather, and less efficient in a dense centre, where parking eats your time.
How to sign up as a Deliveroo rider
- Go to the Deliveroo rider site and create an account.
- Enter your personal details and select the city or zone you want to work in.
- Choose your vehicle type.
- Upload your right-to-work documents for the identity check.
- If you are on a scooter or in a car, upload your driving licence (or provisional plus CBT) and your proof of hire and reward cover.
- Wait for approval. Deliveroo does not publish a guaranteed turnaround, and cases needing manual review take longer than automated ones, so any timescale you read elsewhere is a rough guide at best.
- Download the rider app, log in, and start accepting orders.
Once you are approved, Deliveroo points you to its kit portal for the branded insulated backpack, which you pay for. Your own thermal bag will do instead if it meets Deliveroo's minimum standard, so check that standard before you buy anything.
What Deliveroo riders earn
Deliveroo pays per order, not per hour, and every fee is shown in full before you accept it. Under the pay floor agreed with the GMB union, from April 2026 the fee for the time Deliveroo estimates an order takes must reach at least £12.88 an hour on a bike, £12.99 on an e-bike, £14.40 on a scooter and £17.18 in a car, inclusive of vehicle costs.
Time waiting between orders is unpaid, so active riding indicatively works out at £8 to £14 an hour before costs, with weekend dinner shifts in a busy city at the top of that range.
Your zone, your hours and your vehicle move that figure more than anything else. Our Deliveroo driver pay guide covers the fee model, the floor, what each vehicle costs to run, cash out and tips in detail, and our guide to the best food delivery jobs sets Deliveroo against every other food platform in the UK.
Equipment worth having before your first shift
The thermal bag is the only item you must have, whether it is Deliveroo's or your own. A phone mount costs little and is essential for hands-free navigation on a bike or scooter, and a 10,000 to 20,000 mAh power bank covers a full day of app use and navigation.
Buy proper waterproofs as well, a jacket and trousers that go on and off quickly. In UK weather they are non-negotiable, yet they are what new riders most often go without, and regret.
Tax and self-employment
Deliveroo riders are self-employed, so you register with HMRC and report your earnings through self-assessment, paying income tax and Class 4 National Insurance on your profit.
You deduct work costs from your gross earnings before working out taxable profit. What typically qualifies:
- Mileage. Under HMRC's simplified expenses, cars and goods vehicles are 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles and 25p after that, for the 2026 to 2027 tax year. Motorcycles and scooters are 24p a mile.
- Hire and reward premiums.
- The work proportion of your phone and data costs.
- Your delivery bag and equipment.
- Helmets and waterproofs bought for the work.
Keep records from your first shift. The tax year runs April to April, and the online self-assessment deadline is 31 January after it ends.
Deliveroo compared with Just Eat and Uber Eats
| Platform | Vehicles accepted | Pay structure | In-app tipping |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deliveroo | Bicycle, cargo bicycle, scooter, car | Per delivery, distance-weighted | Yes, occasional |
| Just Eat | Bicycle, scooter, car | Per delivery | Not built in |
| Uber Eats | Bicycle, scooter, car | Per delivery, plus distance and time | Yes, consistent |
All three treat couriers as self-employed and none of them requires exclusivity, so you can hold accounts on several and switch to wherever the orders are. Running two or three apps at once is legal and standard practice.
The age limits differ slightly: Deliveroo and Just Eat both set 18, while Uber Eats asks for 19 to deliver by car.
FAQs about becoming a Deliveroo rider
Can you deliver for Deliveroo on a bicycle?
Yes. Bicycles are a fully supported category and need no hire and reward insurance, which makes them the cheapest way to start. In a dense centre, cyclists are often as productive as scooter riders because they get through traffic and park more easily. E-bikes and cargo bicycles are accepted too.
Do you need a full licence to deliver on a scooter?
No. Deliveroo accepts a provisional licence together with CBT for scooter riders. You still need hire and reward insurance on top of your standard cover, and Deliveroo wants proof of it before you start.
Do Deliveroo riders need a thermal bag?
Yes. You need an insulated bag to keep food at temperature. Deliveroo sells its branded backpack through the rider kit portal after you are approved, and it is not free. A third-party thermal bag is fine as long as it meets Deliveroo's minimum standard.
Is delivering for Deliveroo self-employed?
Yes. Deliveroo riders in the UK are self-employed, so you handle your own tax and National Insurance. There is no sick pay, holiday pay or employer pension contribution, and no minimum wage underneath a quiet shift.
Can I ride for Deliveroo and other platforms at the same time?
Yes. Deliveroo does not require exclusivity. Plenty of riders run two or three apps together and take whichever order lands first, which is the main way people smooth out quiet periods on any single platform.
How much can you make in a day with Deliveroo?
It depends almost entirely on when and where you ride. A rider working a Friday dinner peak in a busy city zone will do considerably better per hour than the same rider on a Tuesday afternoon in a low-density area. Plan around the lunch and dinner windows rather than total hours logged on, and treat the result as revenue with costs still to come out.
Getting ready for your first order
Scooter and car riders should have the hire and reward policy in place before starting the sign-up, since step 5 asks for proof of it. Whatever you ride, buy the waterproofs before the first wet Friday. If you are still weighing up delivery work in general rather than Deliveroo in particular, our complete guide to becoming a delivery driver in the UK is the better starting point. To find out who else is hiring riders in your area, leave your details in the form at the bottom of this page.