Removal porter and driver day rates going into 2027

Four of the five London day-rate adverts were £130–⁠£170. The top one was before £350 a week in van and goods-in-transit costs.

Porter and van driver adverts by the hour: £13.50–⁠£18 in London, mostly £12.71–⁠£16 elsewhere.

Lorry driver adverts (7.5t and Class 2): £14.42–⁠£19.23 an hour in London, £14–⁠£17.50 basic on the South Coast.

13 of the 63 adverts were at, or started from, the National Living Wage.

London’s five day-rate adverts were all for van drivers or driver-porters on a car licence; the top one was before van costs.

Every lorry driver advert we found gave an hourly rate or a salary, not a day rate.

Two lorry adverts at up to £17.50 an hour gave 8–⁠12 hour days, so that rate came to £140–⁠£210 a day.

7.5t drivers, London porters and South Coast day rates had too few adverts to show on their own.

No removals advert we found gave pay for a team leader or a packer.

8 of the 63 adverts said self-employed: 4 by the day (£105–⁠£198, the top one before van costs), 4 by the hour (£12.71–⁠£16).

43 were PAYE: employed, zero-hours or through an agency. 12 didn’t say.

One London self-employed advert offered £130–⁠£150 for 8am to 6pm: £13–⁠£15 an hour.

Self-employed, you pay your own tax and National Insurance, and get no holiday or sick pay.

Working self-employed for removal firms →

People running their own business aren’t entitled to the minimum wage.

Most workers on a 5-day week get at least 28 days’ paid holiday a year.

Two self-employed adverts passed costs on: a £300-a-week van plus £50 a week for goods-in-transit cover, or your own £1m+ public liability cover.

The National Living Wage is £12.71 an hour from 1 April 2026. GOV.UK lists the other minimum wage rates.

At £12.71, an 8-hour day is £101.68 and a 10-hour day is £127.10.

The rate from April 2027 wasn’t published when we checked.

The Low Pay Commission was asked to advise on it by the end of October 2026.

Licence: one New Milton firm advertised porters from £13 an hour and 7.5t driver-porters from £14.

Licence: in Ely, one advert offered driver’s mates £12.71 an hour and drivers £14.

Experience: a Burnley advert offered £13.30 while training, £14.30 experienced and £15 as senior crew.

Long days: a Newcastle advert offered £15 an hour, then £22.50 after 8 hours.

Minimum hours: three adverts paid at least 8 hours a day.

Bank holidays: a Kingston advert paid 50% extra on Christmas, New Year and bank holidays.

Tips: a Romford advert put tips at £1,500–⁠£2,500 a year.

Long distance: a Houghton Regis advert offered up to £45,000 a year at 50 hours, with European work.

No advert we found paid a set premium for early starts or peak days, or a set amount for nights away.

Check which vehicles your own licence covers on GOV.UK.

The C1 licence →

These are what other firms advertised, not a rate we suggest.

On Subber, each porter or driver sets their own day rate.

One fee per booking, added to the day rate.

You see the full price before you book.

What a day costs →

We kept 63 removals adverts that stated pay, posted 26 April to 26 October 2026, each counted once across boards.

We searched Indeed (directly, and through SimplyHired, which shows Indeed adverts), CV-Library, Work Hub, Reed and Totaljobs.

We counted removals only: domestic, commercial, office and piano moves.

London means Greater London postcodes. The South Coast means Surrey, Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, and Dorset.

We show a group only when it has 3 or more adverts.

Hourly pay becomes a day figure only where the advert gave the hours.

We left out adverts over 6 months old, delivery work, and figures seen only in search summaries.

Most of these adverts close in November 2026, so some links will stop working.