Food delivery apps will soon be legally required to carry out checks on couriers to confirm they are eligible to work in the UK, the Home Office has announced, as part of “tough new laws to clamp down on illegal working”.
Currently, companies hiring gig economy and zero-hours workers are not legally required to check the status of these workers. But, the legal requirement to carry out the checks – which take minutes to complete, and confirm someone’s immigration status and ability to legally work in the UK – will now be extended to all businesses for the first time.
The government said this would cover food delivery and courier businesses, as well as sectors such as construction and beauty salons.
Businesses failing to carry out these checks will face “hefty penalties” already in place for those hiring illegal workers in traditional roles, including fines of up to £60,000 per worker, business closures, director disqualifications and potential prison sentences of up to five years.
“Turning a blind eye to illegal working plays into the hands of callous people smugglers trying to sell spaces on flimsy, overcrowded boats with the promise of work and a life in the UK,” said home secretary Yvette Cooper.
“These exploitative practices are often an attempt to undercut competitors who are doing the right thing. But we are clear that the rules need to be respected and enforced.”
Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats were called out by the Home Office for being “honest companies who do the right thing”. The aggregator apps last year bowed to pressure from the department to do more to stop their apps “being abused by illegal workers” by introducing “enhanced security checks”.
While the delivery companies made initial checks on those who want to work for them, verifying their age and right to work, they hadn’t until last year extended this to individuals that could be subcontracted to a rider’s account.
Investigations by the BBC and Independent last year uncovered a booming black market on which rider accounts are traded and used by illegal workers and children. The Independent said the market – based mainly on social media and in WhatsApp groups – was operating as a “back door for people who would fail a criminal background check or are in the country illegally”.
Just Eat UK & Ireland MD Claire Pointon said the company supported the effort to ensure “a fair and well-regulated rapid delivery sector”.
“Preventing unauthorised work is key to this, which is why we’re strengthening our measures by introducing biometric checks to swiftly remove those without the correct authorisation to work in the UK,” she said.
Uber Eats said it had introduced “state-of-the-art identity and document video verification technology and mandatory substitute registration”. “We welcome efforts to enable and enforce further controls, and create a level playing field across the sector,” a spokesperson said.
“Deliveroo has led the industry in taking action to secure our platform against illegal working, developing our approach in close collaboration with the Home Office,” a Deliveroo spokesperson said. “We were the first to roll out direct right to work checks, a registration process, daily identity verification and now additional device checks for riders, including substitutes. We take our responsibilities extremely seriously and will continue to strengthen our controls to prevent misuse of our platform.”
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