Case study: Deliveroo

The challenge

Thanks to its legions of riders delivering food in over 200 cities across the UK, Deliveroo has been one of the most visible aspects of the platform economy over the last decade. 

While using digital platforms to access gig-based work is no longer considered revolutionary, the issue of whether individuals sourcing work through such platforms are employees, self-employed independent contractors or ‘workers’ still makes front page news.

An employment tribunal ruled in 2016 that Uber drivers are not independent contractors and should be classed as workers (with access to the minimum wage and paid holidays).  As the Supreme Court had dismissed Uber’s appeal against the ruling in 2021, there was huge national and international interest in Deliveroo case.

Our approach

Our employment team was the first to succeed in defending an employment status challenge to a platform economy company before the UK Supreme Court. Not only were we successful in defending the core Deliveroo business model, the Supreme Court also overturned two earlier Court of Appeal decisions on collective bargaining.

The crucial question in this case concerned the substitution clause in riders’ contracts, and whether this was inconsistent with an obligation to provide personal service, which is a prerequisite for worker status. From the outset we adopted a compelling approach to demonstrating how the contract reflects reality. When the case was being heard by the Central Arbitration Committee, we called Deliveroo riders to give evidence about how the clause and the working relationship worked in reality – evidence which formed the basis for decisions all the way through to the Supreme Court.

The outcome

By a unanimous 5-0 verdict, the Supreme Court ruled that Deliveroo riders are not in an “employment relationship” for the purposes of European human rights law, and could not proceed with an application for recognition of their trade union. 

The decision provided welcome certainty for Deliveroo, and has ramifications for other platform economy companies with highly flexible operating models in which individuals have genuine freedom about whether and when to work. It is also critically important for the wider commercial community - the platform economy is growing, and will continue to do so as digitalisation continues. 

In cases involving the platform economy, the decision is now being relied on across Europe and beyond to show that for these wider purposes (including the ILO and other conventions describing an “employment relationship”), individuals who work with the same freedoms as Deliveroo riders should be considered independent contractors.