To avoid unlawful working, the government is requiring food delivery companies to do background checks on all delivery drivers.
Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick has written to Uber Eats, Deliveroo, and Just Eat, urging them to install tougher controls to eliminate the practise of unchecked account sharing, known as “substitutions.”
Food delivery firms now allow licenced drivers and riders to replace deliveries to many people who are not vetted by the companies.
This implies that consumers have no way of knowing whether the person who delivers their purchase has been properly vetted, and delivery businesses have no way of knowing whether the delivery driver is legally permitted to work in the UK.
In a letter to each company, the Minister called for the practice to end, warning that the substitution business model is enabling illegal working, allowing exploitation and putting the British public at risk.
Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said: “When someone orders a takeaway to their home, they deserve to know that the person arriving at their door has been properly vetted and is who they’re expecting.
“Unchecked account sharing places the public at risk, enables – and therefore encourages – illegal migration, and leads to the exploitation of workers.
“That’s why I’m calling on these companies to end the use of unverified substitution.
The government is urging businesses to implement stronger vetting procedures to ensure that personnel representing each company are legally permitted to work in the UK and do not have a criminal record.
So far this year, immigration enforcement teams have boosted their raids on illegal food delivery workers, performing over 250 enforcement visits and making over 380 arrests involving food delivery drivers.