Proactive Investors - Deliveroo PLC (LON:ROO), Uber (NYSE:UBER) Eats (LON:0A1U) and Just Eat Takeaway (LON:JETJ) have been told by the UK government to tighten up their employment policies after it was found that under-aged workers were sometimes carrying out deliveries.
Food delivery companies' delivery drivers and bikers are classed as self-employed, something the platform have battled hard in the courts to establish.
But this status has resulted in some verified couriers engaging in "substitution", where they are allowed to tout work out for other riders to complete some deliveries for them.
An investigation by the BBC found that this "black-market trade" in sub-employing drivers was resulting in some jobs being completed by children, with one 17-year-old having died while working as a Deliveroo rider.
Verified couriers are responsible for checking they are legally allowed to work, not the platform they work for.
Immigration minister Robert Jenrick today chaired a meeting with the three companies firms.
He told the BBC that the policy of substitution was “perpetuating and enabling illegal working in our country” and called for substitute riders to be verified by the companies, not their couriers.
Checks by the Home Office on riders have resulted in 381 arrests this year of riders who do not have the right to work in the country, the BBC reported.
A Deliveroo spokesperson said: “We take our responsibilities extremely seriously. We have introduced facial recognition technology and we continue to work in close collaboration with the relevant authorities to support their efforts in this area.”