The Committee has published Uber, Hermes, Deliveroo and Amazon’s
follow up evidence, after they were questioned in Parliament on
Wednesday this week and asked for a series of further
information. Hermes has yet to provide a copy of the tax
“clean bill of health” document from HMRC in 2011 that was
discussed in evidence.
The Committee has also received evidence this morning
disputing Deliveroo Managing Director Dan Warne’s claim on
Wednesday that “We don't mandate that [riders] show up to shifts
… nobody is penalised for not turning up”, with two emails from
Deliveroo to drivers terminating their contracts for not working
a scheduled shift. These emails will also be loaded
on Self-employment and the
gig economy shortly
Some points to note:
- · Hermes
says that the evidence the Committee heard last week from drivers
about their loading times was untrue, but the driver’s testimony
has been backed up by evidence from others, saying the same thing
-
· Similarly,
a number of drivers back up evidence the Committee heard about
the driver substitution system –one of the features the companies
have put forward as evidence of the “flexibility” their model
offers - not working well in practice, with companies
refusing regular drivers’ suggested substitutes when, for
example, they want to take a holiday but don’t want to lose
access to work.
- · Uber
announced a series of changes just before coming in to give
evidence – specifically, introducing the driver appeal panel –
and Deliveroo were keen to assure the Committee when they gave
evidence on Wednesday that they were making “necessary”
changes to their contracts “in the next few days”
(removing the clause that says riders can’t dispute their
self-employed status - see attached extract from Deliveroo
contract)
See Self-employment and the
gig economy for full details, transcripts, and all the
evidence in this inquiry so far.
