Tag: gig economy

Crackdown on illegal working and rogue employers in ‘gig economy’

In the latest move to restore order to the asylum and immigration system, the UK government will introduce tough new laws to clamp down on illegal working

Companies hiring people in the gig economy will now be legally required to carry out checks confirming that anyone working in their name is eligible to work in the UK, bringing them in line with other employers.

These checks, which take just minutes to complete, confirm someone’s immigration status and allow them to legally work in the UK.

This means that for the very first time, employment checks will be extended to cover businesses hiring gig economy and zero-hours workers in sectors like construction, food delivery, beauty salons and courier services.

Currently, thousands of companies using these flexible arrangements are not legally required to check the status of these workers. This changes now.

Where businesses fail to carry out these checks, they 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 5 years.

Expanding illegal working checks will help level the playing field for the majority of honest companies who do the right thing. For example, Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats already voluntarily carry out checks to ensure their delivery riders are eligible to work.

Clamping down on illegal working forms a critical part of the government’s plan to strengthen the entire immigration system, restoring tough enforcement of the rules and undermine people smugglers using the false promise of jobs for migrants.

The announcement comes a day before the UK holds the first ever Organised Immigration Crime Summit, bringing together over 40 countries to agree unprecedented new international action to take down every aspect of criminal smuggling gangs’ tactics.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Under our Plan for Change, we are restoring order to the asylum and immigration system by introducing tougher laws and bolstering enforcement action to tackle illegal working and stopping rogue employers in their tracks.

“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.

“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.

“These new laws build on significant efforts to stop organised immigration crime and protect the integrity of our borders, including increasing raids and arrests  for illegal working and getting returns of people who have no right to be here to their highest rate in half a decade.”

Claire Pointon, Managing Director, Just Eat UK and Ireland said: “Just Eat is committed to supporting high streets and communities by ensuring 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. We welcome this decision from the Home Office to expand these requirements to other sectors.”

A Deliveroo 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.

“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.

“We welcome the government taking action to ensure all businesses and sectors adopt the same standards.”

An Uber Eats spokesperson said: “Uber Eats is fully committed to fighting illegal work and the criminal networks who are often behind it, including by introducing 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.”

The checks take minutes to complete, and the Home Office provide this free of charge, with businesses able to utilise digital ID verification technology to support the process. There is also support in place for employers with enquiries about the process.

The new laws further build on measures announced in November to equip Immigration Enforcement teams with new technology. From May, body worn cameras will be rolled out to officers on the front line tackling illegal working and organised immigration crime.

Backed by £5 milllion, this will help officers collect evidence to support prosecutions and make sure exploitative businesses undermining our immigration system are held to account.

The new measures go alongside a ramp-up of operational action by Immigration Enforcement teams, who since July have carried out 6,784 illegal working visits to premises and made 4,779 arrests – an increase of 40% and 42% compared to the same period 12 months ago. In that time, 1,508 civil penalty notices have been issued.

This also follows wider measures within the legislation announced earlier this month to impose tougher restrictions on foreign criminals whose removal we are pursuing but we are presently unable to deport. This includes the use of electronic tags, night time curfews and exclusion zones. Breaching these conditions would be grounds for arrest and the individual could face imprisonment.

The measures will help ensure the Home Office maintains close contact with individuals and makes it very clear that they should not become established in the UK, as the intention remains to remove them when possible.  

Tomorrow (31 March 2025), the Home Secretary will convene key government and law enforcement leads at the UK’s 2 day landmark international Organised Immigration Crime Summit.

This will include Immigration Enforcement, the Department for Business and Trade, the Gangmasters Labour Abuse Authority and the National Crime Agency, holding a roundtable to discuss the importance of shutting down illegal working and government’s ongoing surge in operational activity.

The summit will bring together leaders from across the globe, with the aim of securing international commitments to intensify efforts against organised immigration crime gangs.

World Sleep Day 2023: Driving Advice from RoSPA

  • World Sleep Day 2023 – 17th March
  • The gig economy: take tiredness seriously to save your life, RoSPA warns

As the UK gig economy shows no signs of slowing, The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has issued a warning to Scottish businesses and workers about driving when tired.

In the gig economy, instead of a regular wage, workers get paid for the ‘gigs’ they do, such as food delivery or a car journey. In the UK, it’s estimated that over five million people are employed in this type of capacity.

Drivers and couriers who get their work from apps face a ‘heightened risk’ of collisions, with almost half (42 per cent) of drivers reporting vehicle damage because of a collision, according to research from University College London.

Tiredness from overwork was flagged as a key risk for those delivering food and parcels, while 63 per cent reported to have not been given the appropriate safety training on managing risks on the road.

One in 10 reported someone had been injured in a crash while they had been working, with scores more reporting time pressure as a key factor in their driving.[1] 

Karen McDonnell, Head of RoSPA Scotland, said: “With the cost of living crisis continuing to bite, it’s easy to see how those in the gig economy could be overworked and tired. We know that being tired is a huge risk factor when driving, and so it’s easy to see how the roads could get more dangerous.

“While it can be easy to say someone should cut down their hours, it’s not always as simple as that. Responsibility lies largely with the companies employing gig workers, who often have unrealistic targets and are expected to go above and beyond to deliver.”

What to do if you feel tired when driving or riding

  • When you first start to feel tired, stop and take a break
  • Stop in a safe place – make sure you’re not on a motorway hard shoulder
  • If you can, drink some coffee or another caffeinated drink
  • Take a short nap, ensuring your car is in a secure location.

What to do if you’re driving for a long distance

Even experienced HGV drivers are stopped from driving more than nine hours a day. Many drivers are not used to driving anywhere near this long, so always bear in mind:

  • Don’t drive for more than eight hours in a day
  • Take regular breaks, aiming to stop every two hours or so
  • On very long journeys, try and plan overnight breaks if you can
  • Don’t begin a long journey if you are feeling tired.

Free sleep courses for Scotland businesses

Lack of sleep doesn’t just affect driving, but overall productivity, too. And with tiredness to blame for 200,000 working days a year in Scotland, The Scottish Occupational Road Safety Alliance (ScORSA) is on a mission to change the way we think about and manage being tired. 

That’s why it is holding a limited series of free virtual courses for Scottish businesses relating to tiredness in the workplace and productivity on the 19 April and the 24 May. To book, businesses should visit ScORSA’s website and join for free here.

RoSPA delivers the ScORSA project  funded by Transport Scotland , as part of Scotland’s Road Safety Framework to 2030.

Edinburgh task force driving change for the gig economy

The City of Edinburgh Council has pledged its support to Edinburgh’s vital gig economy workforce, a significant and growing aspect of the city’s labour market.

It comes as the City looks to promote better access to fair work standards for people following a series of discussions with workers, trade unions, academics, Scottish Enterprise officials, and civil servants from the Scottish Government.

This inquiry, led by Edinburgh’s Gig Economy Task Force and spearheaded by the Council, was the preliminary piece of work to understand the key issues as well as the immediate actions to be taken alongside the long-term legislative changes that need to be considered so gig workers feel empowered, are treated equally and are able to make a fair wage for a fair day’s work.

Next week (on 24 March) a report from the Task Force will feedback its seven recommendations* to the Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Committee.

If agreed these recommendations will be developed into an action plan to be brought back to committee in Autumn this year (2022). This will focus on short, medium and long-term priorities which the Council and partners across the city will be asked to focus on to improve access to fair work for people working across the gig economy, including zero hours contract workers.

One key area recognised by the inquiry was to understand gig workers’ rights to accessing the data collected on them and what transparency exists on the way company algorithms use this data to determine how jobs are offered, how much workers earn, and other challenges workers face.

If agreed, as part of the recommendations the Council will build on the findings, and continue to work with gig workers, businesses and the Scottish Government to understand more about existing rights of access to worker’s’ data while also considering whether data driven innovation tools could be used to help gig workers analyse and better understand their earnings and conditions.

The other recommendations* focus on issues relating to licensing and regulation of the gig economy, public sector procurement, alternative business models and establishing a gig economy worker’s charter for Edinburgh.

The short-life Task Force was established in November 2021 as part of the work plan for the Living Wage City Action Group, and after the Council welcomed the UK Supreme Court’s decision to confirm the status of Uber drivers as workers.

Its objective was to understand the real experiences of workers in the gig economy in Edinburgh, while also looking to explore actions that will tackle the concerns and challenges they face and could improve working conditions, rights and quality of employment.

During its inquiry the Task Force recognised that flexibility and ease of access to employment can be a positive aspect of these roles for some workers, usually those using it as a ‘top-up’ to another income stream or those who have caring responsibilities, or for example students.

However, the growth of the sector has been associated with concerns over low rates of pay, poor income security, risk of in-work poverty, poor opportunities for progression, as well poor working conditions and worker safety.

It is recognised that a growing number of people are becoming reliant on gig economy work as the sole source of income, and they tend to be the people most impacted by poor working conditions and unreliable pay.

Councillor Kate Campbell, Convener of the Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Committee and chair of the Gig Economy Task Force said: “As part of the action plan for the Living Wage City accreditation, and as part of our fair work agenda, I knew it was vital that we did some work to look at the gig economy in Edinburgh and the impact on pay, rights and working conditions.

“The Gig Economy Task Force was put together with the aim of getting a clear understanding of where the real issues lie, what powers the council has to improve conditions now, and where we need to focus on, and implement changes, in future.

“It’s pretty clear that there is a strong power imbalance. For many gig economy workers their shifts, performance monitoring and pay are controlled by an algorithm. This can be incredibly disempowering. We need to look at who has access to data, and how that data is used, and understand what reforms could empower workers.

“We also came to the conclusion that we need to look at current licensing powers, and procurement. And look at strengthening workers’ rights, raising awareness of those rights and understanding how the categorisation of workers impacts on their working conditions. For example gig economy workers are classed as ‘self employed’ – but the reality of their day to day working lives is very far from what most of us would consider self employment.

“I hope we’ll come together next week at Committee and agree the recommendations, so that we can get on with these actions, starting the journey to dramatically improving the working conditions for the growing number of gig economy workers in our city.”

Councillor Mandy Watt, Vice Convener of the Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Committee said: “This task force was established in response to a motion that we raised regarding Uber and was widened to include other gig economy and zero hours workers by the convenor.

“Our intention is to highlight the rights that these workers should already have and to find ways of supporting their efforts to achieve safer working practices and fairer terms and conditions.”

The Gig Economy Task Force was chaired by the Convener of the Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Committee, and comprised workers who have first-hand experience of the gig economy and precarious work in Edinburgh, as well as workers’ representatives, academics, alongside relevant policy leads from the Council, Scottish Government and its agencies.

*Gig Economy Task Force Recommendations:

  1. A costed proposal for a dedicated workers’ hub in Edinburgh, providing access to advice and support.
  2. A costed proposal for ongoing campaign work to provide information on and raise awareness on worker rights in Edinburgh, good working practices, and how to access support.
  3. Licensing: The Council should facilitate and host further work with gig economy and precarious workers, businesses and government on issues relating to licensing and regulation of gig economy and precarious employment. 
  4. Procurement: The Council should facilitate and host further work with workers, businesses and government on issues relating public sector procurement fair work and the gig economy. 
  5. Data Rights and Access: The Council should facilitate and host further work with gig economy workers, businesses and government on issues raised during this inquiry relating data rights and access for workers in the gig economy. 
  6. Alternative Gig Economy Business Models: The Council should facilitate and host further work with gig economy workers, businesses and government to hear more about examples observed in other European cities.
  7. A workers’ charter for Edinburgh: Building on all of the above, the Council should facilitate further engagement with gig economy workers and businesses.

The development of this Task Force has been informed by the Council’s Fair Work Action Plan and Edinburgh Economy Strategy, both of which emphasise the importance of fair work that provide citizens with dignity and security of income.

‘Economic security trap’ driving millions of Brits to work with Covid symptoms, RSA warns

Millions of British workers are putting themselves and others at risk of Covid-19 due to inadequate sick pay and pressure from their employers, new research shows.  

The RSA (royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce) warns that a growing ‘economic security trap’ — the choice workers face between protecting their income and their health — is contributing significantly to the spread of the virus. 

Polling carried out between 13 Jan and 15 Jan by Yonder (formerly Populus) of UK workers finds: 

  • around one-in-25 (4%) British workers has worked within 10 days of a positive test, rising to one-in-ten (10%) of those in insecure work such as a zero-hours contract, agency work or the gig economy 
  • 6% of British workers have worked with Covid-19 symptoms, rising to 8% of insecure workers and 13% of the self-employed 
  • 12% have been ordered into work when they could have easily and more safely worked from home 
  • only 16% think Statutory Sick Pay is sufficient to meet their needs. 

The RSA calls for an emergency package to address economic insecurity, including: 

Recent RSA research on key workers has found that many staff in key industries report struggling to take time off when unwell, including 29% of those working in social care.  

The RSA has a long-running programme of research dedicated to tackling economic insecurity in the UK. Last year the organisation published A Blueprint for Good Work, putting forward practical solutions for providing good work after the pandemic. 

Alan Lockey, head of RSA’s future work programme, said: “Our polling shows that millions feel forced to put themselves and others at risk of the virus because of insecure work, pressure from bosses, and the failings of our deeply inadequate welfare state.   

“Rishi Sunak must close this ‘economic security trap’ — the terrible trade-off many workers face between their health and putting food on the table — by allowing self-isolating workers to access the furlough scheme, and retaining the £20 per week uplift in universal credit.

“We also need to see help for the millions currently excluded, through no fault of their own – and the self-employed in particular. An ’emergency basic income’ style scheme, using the current tax infrastructure, is the best way to help reach all this group and close the gaps which we believe are helping to increase the infection rate.”