Fuel Duty Changes UK 2026/27 — Rates and Key Dates

UK fuel duty is changing in stages during the 2026/27 tax year. The temporary 5 pence-per-litre cut is extended to 31 August 2026, then the main petrol and diesel duty rate rises by 1p per litre on 1 September 2026, 2p on 1 December 2026 and 2p on 1 March 2027.

By 1 March 2027 the main rate returns to 57.95p per litre, the rate that applied before the temporary cut. From 1 April 2027, HMRC's published policy says fuel duty is expected to be uprated annually in line with RPI. That later uprating is separate from the three increases in the 2026/27 schedule.

The change affects the duty included in petrol, diesel and other fuel prices. It does not mean that every forecourt price rises by exactly the same amount: wholesale fuel prices, retailer margins, competition, VAT and the fuel used all affect what a driver pays. Add the expected fuel line to the UK monthly budget planner→, then compare total vehicle costs in the EV versus petrol ownership calculator→.

Fuel duty dates for 2026/27

The staged schedule for the main rate is:

These are the duty rates for the main petrol and diesel categories in HMRC's published table. Other fuel types, rebated fuels and road-fuel gases have their own rates and may move by a proportionate amount rather than by exactly 5p per litre.

How much is the increase in practice?

For a simple illustration, assume a car uses 50 litres of petrol during a month and the retailer passes through the full duty change without any movement in wholesale prices or margin:

The final column is a duty-only illustration. It is not a forecast of the amount shown on a pump because VAT and commercial pricing also affect the total. A driver using 200 litres a month would multiply the duty-only figures by four, while a lower-mileage driver would see a smaller direct effect.

The better budgeting question is not “what will petrol cost on one date?” but “how many litres do I use in a normal month, and what happens if both fuel duty and wholesale prices move?” Enter your actual usage in the monthly budget planner→ and keep a separate vehicle buffer for repairs, insurance and servicing.

Fuel duty is not the same as the pump price

Fuel duty is an excise duty charged on fuel. It is included in the price paid by the consumer, but the final forecourt price also reflects:

• the wholesale cost of the petrol or diesel;
• transport, storage and other supply costs;
• the retailer's margin and local competition;
• VAT, which GOV.UK says is normally charged at the standard rate on most road fuel; and
• the vehicle's fuel consumption and the distance driven.

This is why a 1p-per-litre duty increase should not automatically be described as a 1p movement in every pump price. The duty schedule is fixed by the published policy; commercial prices are not.

What changes from April 2027?

The 2026/27 measure gradually reverses the temporary cut by 1 March 2027. The policy material also says that from 1 April 2027 fuel duty rates will be uprated annually in line with the Retail Prices Index.

That does not provide the exact April 2027 rate in this guide. The amount will depend on the applicable legislation and the RPI uprating used for that fiscal year. Do not combine the published March 2027 rate with an invented April percentage when preparing a long-term vehicle forecast.

Does it affect petrol, diesel and other fuels equally?

No. Petrol and diesel use the main light-oil/heavy-oil rates, while other fuels have their own entries. HMRC's table includes aviation gasoline, marked gas oil, LPG, natural road fuel gas, biodiesel and other products.

For a household car, the useful first check is whether it uses petrol or diesel and how many litres are bought. For a business, fleet operator or haulier, the calculation should also identify rebated fuels, fuel cards, private use, mileage records and any VAT treatment that applies to the business.

The rate table is not a promise about every fuel product

HMRC's published table is organised by fuel category and use. “Petrol” and “diesel” are useful descriptions for an ordinary car, but a business may buy marked gas oil, biofuel blends, road-fuel gas or a product with a different statutory classification. A supplier invoice can help identify the product, but it is not always enough to establish the duty treatment where fuels are blended or used for more than one purpose. Fleet operators should map each fuel-card product to the relevant HMRC line and keep the mapping with the accounting records.

The temporary-cut comparison also needs a date check. A litre bought before 1 September 2026 is not retrospectively charged at the September rate, and a litre bought after a staged change should not be budgeted using the old rate simply because the monthly fuel bill covers several dates. A monthly forecast should split usage by date if a vehicle is filled near a rate change or if the business accrues stock. For a household, the difference is usually small; for a depot storing large volumes, the timing and stock valuation can matter more.

Business, VAT and mileage decisions

Fuel duty is an excise cost in the supply chain. A VAT-registered business should separately consider input VAT recovery, private use, fuel scale charges or other rules that apply to its vehicles and activity. The duty increase itself does not create a new right to reclaim VAT, and a VAT-inclusive invoice should not be treated as a duty-only amount. Keep the duty scenario, VAT calculation and mileage reimbursement policy as three separate lines in the forecast.

An employer reimbursing business mileage should also avoid treating the fuel-duty schedule as an automatic change to an approved mileage rate. Mileage rates are a separate tax and expense question. If actual fuel costs have moved, the employer can review its policy and evidence, but it should check the applicable HMRC mileage guidance, vehicle category and employee-use facts rather than adding 5p to a mileage rate by assumption. The same separation applies to a company-car fuel benefit or a director's private fuel: the duty change affects cost, while the tax treatment follows the relevant benefit and reimbursement rules.

For a haulier or other high-mileage operator, record litres, route, vehicle, fuel category and date. Then run at least three scenarios: the published duty-only path, a higher wholesale-price path and a lower-mileage path. This prevents the staged duty increase from being mistaken for a complete operating-cost forecast. It also makes clear which part of the result is an official rate and which part is a business assumption.

Fuel duty and electric vehicles

Fuel duty does not apply to electricity used to charge an electric vehicle in the same way as it applies to petrol or diesel. That does not make an EV's total cost automatically lower: purchase price, finance, insurance, servicing, home charging, public charging and mileage all matter.

Use the EV versus petrol ownership calculator→ for a scenario comparison rather than treating the fuel-duty change as a standalone purchase recommendation. The existing UK EV and petrol ownership guide covers the wider comparison and its assumptions.

How should households budget for the change?

The staged changes are relatively easy to model when fuel usage is stable. A driver who commutes a fixed distance can estimate litres from recent records; a household with irregular trips should use a three- to six-month average and stress-test a higher-mileage month.

How to read the 2026/27 schedule safely

Use the schedule as a sequence, not as a single annual average. From the temporary-cut rate to the March rate, the cumulative change is 5p per litre. If 100 litres are purchased entirely after 1 March 2027, the duty-only difference from the 52.95p baseline is £5. If 100 litres are split equally across the three change points, the result is different because each litre is exposed to a different rate. This is why an annual budget should use expected litres in each period rather than multiplying an annual total by the final rate.

The published numbers are also nominal duty rates, not a forecast of tax-inclusive household spending. A driver can pay more or less than the simple illustration because the retailer may change its margin, a supermarket may discount fuel, wholesale prices can move daily and VAT is applied separately. Keep the official rate in a labelled assumption cell or note, and record when it was last checked. When the post-March uprating is published, replace the placeholder rather than silently rewriting the historical stages.

Frequently Asked Questions

This guide reflects HMRC and HM Treasury material available on 20 September 2026. For a business fleet or VAT-registered activity, check the current HMRC fuel-duty, VAT and mileage guidance before changing records or pricing.

Official sources

• HMRC: Fuel duty rates for 2026 to 2027
• HM Treasury: Budget 2025
• HMRC: Fuel duty rates collection
• GOV.UK: Fuel Duty
• HMRC: Excise duty — hydrocarbon oils rates