Deliveroo, Uber Eats, and Just Eat to clamp down on illegal workers in the UK
Food delivery services Deliveroo, Uber Eats, and Just Eat have announced increased security checks on delivery riders to prevent illegal working in the gig economy.
The commitment comes after ministers convened the three firms for a roundtable at the Home Office on Monday (30 June) to discuss what further urgent action can be taken to prevent immigration offending on their platforms.
Over the last year, Deliveroo, Uber Eats, and Just Eat have introduced voluntary ‘right to work’ checks on all account holders and registered substitutes. These measures have helped stop illegal workers abusing the platform, with action taken on thousands of accounts.
However, Border Security Minister Dame Angela Eagle and Employment Rights Minister Justin Madders raised concerns that, despite these welcome steps, there continues to be abuse in the sector where illicit account sharing leads to illegal working.
Ministers set out the government’s zero tolerance approach to immigration crime and stressed the importance of tightening checks to crack down on those who flout employment rules.
As a result of the discussions, the firms agreed to increase the use of facial verification checks and fraud detection technology to ensure only registered account holders can work on their platforms. This will help stop people with no right to work in the UK from using someone’s name to earn money illegally.
The strengthened industry standard – to be rolled out in the next 90 days – will see Deliveroo and Uber Eats increase the quantity and sophistication of verification checks they already do, with Just Eat upping the same checks from monthly to daily.
“This government will not turn a blind eye to illegal working. It undercuts honest business, hits people’s wages and plays into the hands of the people smuggling gangs,” said Dame Angela Eagle (Minister for Border Security and Asylum)
“I welcome Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats’ pledge to increase facial verification checks following today’s roundtable. We will keep a close eye on their progress and continue discussions.
“Under our Plan for Change, we are taking a zero-tolerance approach to illegal working across the board. Arrests nationwide have increased by 51% and we are strengthening legislation via our borders bill to end the abuse of flexible working arrangements.”
