Fact Check: Half of UK Fast Food Delivery Drivers Are Working Illegally?

Claim:

Roughly 50 percent of all fast food deliveries in the U.K. are carried out by illegal workers.

Rating:

Research In Progress ( About this rating? )

On May 30, 2024, British political party Reform UK posted a campaign video across its social media accounts in which the party's chairman, Richard Tice, claimed around half of all food takeouts in Britain are delivered by illegal workers.

"Did you know around 50% of fast food deliveries are done by illegal workers. Many of the delivery companies know about this, but do nothing. Reform UK will ban this practice," the party wrote on its X account.

In the political advertisement, Tice called the practice a "fast food, illegal worker scam" that depresses British wages and evades taxes.

He also accused delivery companies, such as Deliveroo, Just Eats and Uber Eats, of allowing people to rent out "substitute accounts" to illegal workers filling in for self-employed drivers:

Why would you pay for an account that's free if you're legal? Maybe, it's because you're working illegally or you're hiding something. I reckon there's up to 50 percent of all these deliveries are being done by legal workers, and big businesses know about this scam, but they're making hundreds of millions more profits at the taxpayer's expense.

Tice's call for a ban on substitute accounts also appeared on Reform's Facebook , TikTok and YouTube profiles, as well as on Tice's Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=959389105639768

Snopes approached Tice and representatives for Reform for comment on the source of the 50 percent claim and will update this article if we receive a response, but until then we have rated this claim as "Research in Progress," as we were unable to scrutinize the party's figures.

Representatives for Uber Eats, Just Eat and Deliveroo declined to provide Snopes with comments on the claim.

However, the U.K. government published a news release on April 30, 2024, saying the three companies committed to enhancing security checks to prevent illegal work following discussions with ministers:

All 3 firms have now committed to changing their processes to confirm substitute riders have the right to work legally in the U.K. directly, with Deliveroo the first to roll out a new substitute registration feature, including right to work checks, earlier this month.

The firms will continue to work closely with the government as they roll out their new operating procedures, to help them adapt to any emerging risks.

Substitute accounts are allowed due to the companies' workers being self-employed, the news release read.

However, it said "a small minority of drivers have taken advantage of the system to avoid completing right to work checks, leading to an increase in operations by Immigration Enforcement to prevent this."

This leaves customers with no way of knowing if the person handing over their food can legally work in the UK. It can also leave delivery firms in the dark about whether their substitute drivers have the right to work in the UK.

All three firms were quoted in the news release.

A Deliveroo spokesperson said:

We take our responsibilities extremely seriously and are committed to strengthening our controls to prevent misuse of our platform.

We are the first major platform to roll out direct right to work checks, a registration process and identity verification technology to ensure that only substitutes with right to work can continue riding on our platform.

We will continue to work in close collaboration with the Home Office and leaders in industry to support efforts in this area.

An Uber Eats spokesperson said:

At Uber Eats we are going to roll out identity verification checks to help ensure only those who legitimately use someone else's account to earn with us are able to, and we are pleased to be working with government to find a solution.

A Just Eat spokesperson said:

We take our responsibilities on this issue seriously and have high expectations for couriers delivering on our behalf which is why we're continuing our work together with industry and policymakers to develop a solution which will ensure couriers substituting their work do so in accordance with the law.

Sources:

'Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats to Enhance Security Checks to Prevent Illegal Working'. GOV.UK , https://www.gov.uk/government/news/deliveroo-just-eat-and-uber-eats-to-enhance-security-checks-to-prevent-illegal-working . Accessed 7 June 2024.